


Devil Wears Armani

by Mindige0



Category: Smallville
Genre: Alternate Universe, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-10-06
Updated: 2016-02-28
Packaged: 2018-02-20 02:19:33
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 13
Words: 64,949
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2411378
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mindige0/pseuds/Mindige0
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Clark has the one job that most people would kill to have, unfortunately Clark is the one person that doesn't want the job.  Will he be able to survive or quit?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Welcome to the Metropolis' Translation Department or is it Hell?

“You have a job interview, where?!” A woman with long brown hair and brown doe eyes said to a dark haired young man about the same age.

“ _Julian_ ” the man said before shrugging his shoulders, he didn’t really care on *where* he had a job interview just that he *had* one. He hadn’t known how hard it would be to get interviews for his chosen field of work, translation; as in translating from one language to another, when he had taken up the major in college.

“ _JULIAN_!” the woman squealed before she began to talk a mile a minute.

“How did you manage it? Do you know that like a million other people probably want that job? Oh. My. God!” The man could only stare at the woman and hope that she wouldn’t notice if he tried to slip out of having lunch with her now. At the time he had been excited about the prospect of a better job, it wasn’t like his job at the hospital was taking him anywhere. He had thought that it would be a challenge working at the hospital, translating for the doctors to the patients and vice versa but he had been dead wrong. Most of the time he was pushed over to the financial assistance area, and wasn’t that a joke because there was no assistance to be had most of the time; and he also had to fight with his co-workers due to the patient feeling that their bill was incorrect or that they weren’t going to pay at all for some reason or another. He absolutely hated his job, it paid the bills sure but that was about it. He had never really been a people person, preferring instead paper and ink but he had to find something to pay for the apartment that he lived in and the student loans that he had at graduating from college.

“Oh. My. God!” The woman squealed again before rambling on again about how this was such a great opportunity for him and that he had best not screw it up, since she was looking for any sort of hand-offs the company was willing to give to him from their closet. He wasn’t really sure on what she meant by that, but he nodded his head and smiled, just as his mother taught him to do when dealing with particularly difficult people.

“Clark just don’t screw this up” the woman said before she started to ramble on about her latest woe, which seemed to be that the current designer she worked for, the fifth one in a string of jobs she had, was making her work entirely way to hard. As if she was some sort of personal assistant, she didn’t *do* getting coffee or dry cleaning. That just wasn’t what she was there for; she was there to show them that she was just as good if not better in some cases then the current hot designers of the industry. Clark only nodded his head not agreeing or disagreeing with what the woman was saying, he had learned the hard way that doing so usually ended him in the dog house with the rest of the small group of their friends.

“Well I better get back” Clark said checking his watch and seeing that if he didn’t leave now that he would be late clocking back into work. He hadn’t wanted to have lunch with the woman but it seemed that he could never say no to her, even now after they had grown up and moved away from Smallville.

“Okay” the woman said clearly distracted by her cell phone ringing and not at the fact that he was leaving.

“Yeah, whatever” he said before making his way back to the large hospital that hung in the background of the small sandwich shop that he had stopped to get a bite to eat at with the woman that was now on her phone looking most unhappy about something.

“Kent!” Met his ears as he made his way to his cube after clocking back in from lunch, something he so didn’t want to do.

“Dani” the man said in greeting, the woman could be a real bitch when she didn’t get her way. He was still amazed that she worked at the hospital with as much fuss as she usually kicked up in their department.

“A doctor needs a translator” she said her nose in the air, as if she was better than he was.

“Sure where?” He asked happy to be not having to sit at his desk and listen to the woman whine about how she just didn’t have *time* for the sorts of things that they were making her do.

“8, West” she said before he nodded his head and then made his way back out of the door that hid their department away from most of the hospital.

“8, West” he said to himself as he made his way over to the huge bank of elevators on the west side of the hospital. Once he arrived he asked one of the workers on the floor, a decidedly unpleasant experience, where the doctor that had been requesting a translator was.

“Over there” the African American woman with glasses and blue streaks running through her hair said, while pointing to a doctor and a group of people around her. He said a quick thanks, got a roll of the eyes from the worker and then made his way over to where the doctor was standing looking a bit lost.

“Resident then” he said to himself before making it the rest of the way to where the doctor stood.

“You requested a translator” he said looking at the doctor and noticing that she was quite pleasant on the eyes, but definitely didn’t look to have any control over the situation at hand.

“Yes” she said with a relieved sigh before her eyes widened at the figure that had spoken.

“Clark” he said sticking out his hand before he looked to the group surrounding the doctor, wondering what he was in for this time.

“I hope you speak Italian” she said before her eyes widened even more when Clark nodded his head. He was quite proud of the fact that he was fluent in five languages and was working hard on learning even more.

“ _Ciao, mi chiamo Clark e tradurrò per lei oggi.”_ Clark said before looking to the doctor to explain what was going on with the family that was surrounding her.

“Uh” she said at a loss, when Clark had spoken all thought had left her brain. A hottie such as him speaking the language of romance had made her get all gooey, making her forget the reason on why she needed Clark in the first place.

“ _Ciao, mi chiamo Irina e questo è la mia famiglia. Siamo venuti vedere che nostro Nonno ma questo dottore dice che deve parlare a noi del suo. ....condition?_ ” A woman that had a couple patches of graying hair said to Clark looking at him hoping that he would be able to shed some light on what was going on. Clark nodded his head and then relayed what Irina, the woman that had spoken, had said to the doctor.

“Correct, it seems that Mr. Giana suffered from a mild heart attack” the doctor told Clark, who then relayed it to the Irina and the group of people that were with her. Once everyone was on the same page, Clark explained to the doctor that the family wanted to visit with Mr. Giana, to which the doctor replied that they could visit but one or two at a time. It was about thirty minutes later that Clark arrived back to his cube only to be stopped by yet another one of his co-workers. It seemed to Clark that none of them actually did any work; they just sort of hung out in the office and sent him off to do their work when they couldn’t break themselves away from the drama filled story from another co-worker.

“And then the girl stole the baby stroller and was walking down the street without a care in the world…..” Clark heard before the other co-worker that was buddy, buddy with Dani came over to his cube.

“Back?” She asked as if she couldn’t see him sitting in his chair checking his e-mails to see if there were any other pressing matters that needed his attention.

“Yeah” Clark responded back, he had learned the hard way that not responding wasn’t a good idea, no it was best to smile and nod your head and answer any and all questions that any one asked of you.

“Dani’s looking for you” the woman said before strolling off to go and listen to the drama about the stolen baby stroller, that had evolved to the other girl slashing the tires of the one girl’s car; and they were girls since Clark knew that their ages ranged from 18 to at the maximum 23 years old. Once the woman had left did Clark lock his computer back up and make his way over to Dani’s office, the only office in the whole room that they were located in. Clark knocked on the door before receiving a ‘come in’ and then opening the door.

“You wanted to see me” Clark said once he had sat in a chair in the office. He so hated coming in here, it always put him on edge, unlike the rest of the office since they seemed to hang out in said office.

“Yes, I got your request for your day off and I was wondering what the reason for the day is” the woman said her eyes hard as she watched Clark, looking for any sort of signs as to why he needed a whole day off in the coming days.

“Personal matter” Clark said, he didn’t think he had to answer the question out right but he knew better than to not answer at all.

“Hmmm” Dani said before looking down to the paper and then looking at her computer screen. Clark of course had plenty of paid time off or better known to the hospital as PTO, but she was a bit hesitant for some reason to give Clark this time.

“You can go” Dani said before looking at Clark and trying to gage his reaction to her words, she was a bit on edge with the idea that Clark may be looking for a new job. He was the only one in the department that she could depend on to actually do their jobs all the time. She of course allowed the rest of the office the luxury to sort of not work since Clark was there to pick up the slack but if he was looking elsewhere, she and the department would be in a world of trouble. Clark stood up and then left the office making his way back to his cube to hear that now the baby stroller stealing girl had retaliated from the slashed tires by breaking in the windows of the tire slashing girl’s car.

“You have to be kidding me” Clark mumbled, this was why he hated, no he *loathed* his job. He hoped that this job interview went well, that way he could get away from the drama that always seemed to fill the office during work hours. For the rest of the day Clark was sent around the hospital doing translations as needed and then returning back to his cube to then listen to the latest drama from another one of his co-workers.

“Clark” the woman from earlier called out to Clark as he sat at his cube and watched the clock countdown to quitting time.

“Yeah” Clark said looking up into the woman’s face and then shuttering, she was a sight to be seen; with her too much makeup and her nicotine stained teeth.

“Dani wants to see you again” she said before strolling off to her cube to check the latest gossip on the internet. Clark made his way back to the office that held Dani yet again and then knocked and receiving the response to ‘come in’ yet again.

“You wanted to see me” Clark stated again before Dani was handing over the paper she had been working with since Clark had arrived the first time.

“I’ve approved your PTO request even though it was last minute” Dani said shoving the paper in Clark’s hand, they would be in for a hard day tomorrow since it seemed that most people decided that Friday was a good day to go to the hospital only to then be admitted.

“Thanks” Clark said looking at the paper and then looking at Dani and the unhappy look she had on her face.

“We’ll be a bit tight tomorrow but we will manage” she said as if they there wasn’t seven other people in the office that could translate.

“Sorry about that” Clark said before taking the paper and backing out of the room slowly, he was certainly *not* going to cancel his job interview over being here at the office with a complete group of drama queens.

“Just make sure to get me a copy of that” she said before shooing Clark out of the office. Clark did as he was told and made copies of the signed request and placed a copy in Dani’s box along with the Administrative Assistance box as well. Clark could never be too sure on whether or even if Dani would notify the admin of the PTO. Once he was done he checked the time and saw that it was time for him to leave, so with that thought in mind he shut down his computer, turned off his desk light and made his way to the time clock to clock out. Once he was done with that he walked to his car in the parking garage behind the building that the office was in and then made his way home once in the car. Clark dragged himself into his apartment and saw that he had a big two messages on his phone, pressing play on the phone’s answering machine he listened to the two message while sitting on the couch.

“Hey Clark” a bubbly voice said over the line making Clark want to groan. Kara Kent, his cousin was not who he wanted to hear from at the moment; the blonde woman was almost as bad if not worse as Lana Lang and Lois Lane, put together and that was saying something since Lois Lane was known for her ruthlessness when dealing with the social elite of Metropolis. Clark shuddered to think what the woman would have been like if she had gotten into investigative reporting and not the celebrity entertainment gossip biz that she was in now.

“Lana told me about the interview….wow is all I can say. _Julian_ Magazine….. Lois was right pissed when she heard about that, and she said to tell you that she wants a full detail account of your visit to _Julian_ ” Kara said before she began to ramble on about something at work before inviting him out for a night on the town after his interview.

“You will of course call when you get finished” Kara said before wishing him luck and then saying goodbye. Clark let out a relieved sigh before he heard the other voice on his voice mail.

“Clark” a husky voice said on the voice mail, this was so not what he wanted to listen to when coming back from a long day at work.

“I’ll be back in Metropolis tomorrow, the photo shoot is finally over and I thought that we could do dinner” the male voice said acting as if it was just a casual dinner between friends and not a dinner between lovers.

“Whatever Laurent” Clark said before deleting the message and wondering why he even bothered with continuing the farce of a relationship he was in with Laurent. With an eye roll Clark made his way into the kitchen to see what there was to eat in the apartment, in the refrigerator it seemed that there was nothing viable for him to eat; so with a sigh Clark pulled out his handy dandy order menu box and looked to see if he could find something that he was in the mood for. It seemed that pizza called to him, so he ordered a large pizza with double cheese and pepperoni, before also ordering a 2-liter of soda to accompany it. He would have just gotten both the pizza and the soda on his own but he needed to pick out what he was going to wear to his job interview and he had a feeling it was going to be much harder than picking out clothes to go to work would be.

“White or blue” Clark said to himself standing in front of the small closet that was in his bedroom, the closet was tiny but since Clark didn’t have a ton of clothing it didn’t really matter much. It was as Clark pulled out both the white shirt and blue shirt in question that his food arrived.

“Fifteen, thirty-six” the pizza man said holding onto the pizza box with the 2-liter of soda at his feet. Clark dashed to the small table near the entrance and grabbed a twenty from his wallet before handing it over to the driver and receiving change back. Clark took the two items and then pressed a few bucks into the drivers hand before closing the door. Clark quickly set to work eating dinner, and once finished he placed the rest of the pizza into the refrigerator along with the soda.   Clark had just been heading back to his bedroom and tiny closet when the phone rang.

“Hello” Clark said wondering who was calling.

“Clark, so glad I caught you” a male voice said, the same male voice that had been on the voice mail.

“Laurent” Clark said before listening to the background noise of where Laurent was. Clark could tell that where ever he was, he was having a good time for there was music blaring and Clark could hear people shouting Laurent’s name; as if trying to get his attention.

“So did you get my message?” Laurent asked, he knew that Clark sometimes tended to avoid checking his messages on his voice mail so he usually had to prompt him to make sure that Clark did in fact check his voice mail.

“Yeah” Clark said before he heard some more shouting.

“Where are you? Why’s it so loud?” Clark questioned, he was having a hard time understanding Laurent over the loud music and people on the other end of the phone.

“The after party for the Prada fashion show” Laurent said with Clark barely understanding what he was saying.

“Oh” Clark said totally at a loss as to how to even continue to carry a conversation with Laurent, since it seemed that he was unwilling to move to a quieter location to speak with him.

“Hang on” Laurent said before Clark heard a rustle and then the volume of the background noise lessened by at least half if not more.

“Sorry about that” Laurent said before he quickly explained that he was currently at the Prada after party, when he thought he would give Clark a buzz and see if he would be agreeable to having dinner when he returned.

“So dinner”

“Yeah” Clark said a bit uncertain on why Laurent was pushing this so much.

“We need to talk” Laurent said by way of explanation, it was then that Clark’s mind figured out that Laurent wanted to break things off with him and that he wanted to do so in person.

“Sure, why not” Clark said already trying hard to fight the pain that he could feel in his chest over the thought of Laurent breaking things off with him. He had been with Laurent for almost two years now, but it seemed that now that Laurent’s face had been found that he wanted bigger and better things and he wanted them without Clark, the dorky translator boyfriend.

“Well the plane should land at about 3:30, so why don’t we have dinner at 6 and we can talk” Laurent suggested before Clark agreed knowing that it was the only thing he could do.

“Bye” Laurent said before Clark heard the volume in the background noise increase before Laurent hung up. Clark held the phone for a beat or two before hanging it up and then taking in his small but clean apartment and noticing little things around the place that were Laurent’s. There was no need for him to even keep them here if Laurent planned to break things off, and he was certain that was what Laurent was going to do.

“Better pack it up” Clark said forgetting for the moment the job interview he had tomorrow with _Julian_ and the promise of better things. Clark was able to pack up all of Laurent’s trinkets into one lone cardboard box before setting it by the door. Once Laurent broke things off he would be able to hand over the box without Laurent having to come into the apartment, which Clark thought was a good idea. He didn’t want any sort goodbye fuck that was for sure. He may be desperate and lonely but he wasn’t that desperate or lonely.

“Crap” Clark said once he had taken a seat on the loveseat that was in the living room, he had forgotten in all his packing up of Laurent’s things about the interview and the fact that he had nothing picked out for said interview.

“White or blue” Clark said once he made his way back to his bedroom and closet.

“White” Clark he pulling out the white shirt and deciding that it didn’t look that bad, it had some wrinkles but they were nothing that wouldn’t fall out over night or at least he hoped so. He thought about calling with Lana, Kara or truly in a pinch Lois but stopped since he knew that they would probably deem, although they already did deem, his clothing not worthy of the interview and would send him on a shopping trip with money he didn’t have.

“Tie or no tie” Clark questioned before pulling out the five ties that he owned and figuring that no tie would look better since the selection he had to chose from was slim to none of the current fashions.

“Pants” Clark said looking over the jeans, khakis and two pairs of dress slacks that he had in his tiny closet. He had his choice of either gray or black slacks. Clark was leaning towards the black but he remembered the last time he wore then and he had known that they were dirty, well at least a pair of pants that probably shouldn’t be worn to a job interview, he did after all have some sense.

“It’s going to have to do” Clark said with a sigh and then placing the whole outfit on the doorway to the bathroom so that he wouldn’t have to worry about where it was in the morning. For the rest of the night Clark watched TV and looked over the job description of the job he was interviewing for on the internet, before turning in to bed and hoping that this would be his big break to get away from the hospital.


	2. The Interview and Meeting

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Clark makes a big impression on more than one person.

“GOOD MORNING METROPOLIS……THIS IS KID KELLY….” Clark’s alarm went off to the jockey on the radio shouting at Clark, waking the sleeping man.

“I’m up, I’m up” Clark mumbled before slapping the alarm clock and then peeking to see what time it was.

“Well crap” Clark said thinking that it was entirely way too early to be getting up, as he thought every other day that he got up at this time.

“Big day” Clark said talking to himself, it wasn’t as if he could call one of his friends for a pep-talk since they would no doubt want to come over and inspect his outfit which would lead to a diatribe on why he didn’t wear better clothes, he was after all going out with a model and couldn’t he help Clark in his fashion black hole. That would of course lead to him telling them that he was pretty sure that his model boyfriend was going to break up with him, so there would be no help from that end. Which would then lead to his friends asking what *he* had done to have the pair break up, like it was his fault that Laurent no longer wanted to be with him. Clark showered and got ready for the day ahead, making sure to even floss his teeth before getting dressed in the interview outfit he had chosen. By the time that Clark had dithered, he had exactly one hour before his job interview. So Clark got his portfolio ready and then made his way to his parked car with the instructions he had been given in his hand and thoughts running through his head about some of the questions that the person may ask when he arrived. The ride to the _Julian_ Building was short, it was the finding a parking spot that seemed to take up the rest of his time before his interview.

“Finally” Clark said stalking a person as they made their way to their car. Clark had been looking for a full twenty minutes before he has spotted a worker making their way to their car. He had been lucky since there was a huge line of cars trying to fight for the limited parking spots in the underground garage; Clark hated to think on how early he would need to be here to even get a parking spot. Clark pulled into the spot quickly and then got out of the car, making sure to lock it before heading in the tall glass and steel building. He hadn’t really known what he was getting into when the HR person had called about the job, he had just known that it was a job interview in his chosen field of study and that anything could be better than the hell hole he called a job currently. Clark people watched for a moment and noticed that most, if not all of the people that came to or from the building looked like they could be someone famous and were just at the ready to pose for the camera. The women all wore suits or something close to it with four inch stilettos, their hair done to perfection along with their make-up. If there was a woman with glasses, they were of designer quality and they looked to be worth more than Clark’s whole wardrobe. The men on the other hand all looked like they were CEOs, CFOs and some other C that Clark couldn’t think up at the moment. They looked much too young be running anything and they held an air around that that screamed ‘I’m important, look at me’. This had Clark shifting foot-to-foot, a nervous habit of his that Kara and his mother had been trying to break of him. It hadn’t worked yet and he didn’t think that it would ever go away, he thought ruefully. Clark took a fortifying breath before he entered the building and became even more self-conscious of what he was wearing for the inside was just as bad as the outside of the building. There were more people milling about looking absolutely perfect, something that Clark was realizing that he was definitely not. ‘Screw up? That would mean I actually made it to the interview’ Clark thought, remembering Lana’s words about him not screwing up this chance.

“Do you need some help?” A woman with mid-length blonde hair said to Clark, clearly wondering what on Earth he was doing here in this building.

“Uh, no” Clark said before looking at his paper and seeing that he would need to make his way to the tenth floor for his interview in HR.

“You sure, visitors aren’t allowed in the building” Clark could tell what she clearly thought of him and his attire, she every few seconds look over his body and then hold in a grimace.

“Oh, I have a job interview” Clark said before making his way over to the elevators. He never noticed that as soon as he walked away the woman and everyone in the large entry area of the building gasped as a bald man walked into the building. Clark had pushed the up button, deep in thought wondering if he should even bother with the interview to begin with. It seemed like most if not all of the people that worked here were perfect, something he was clearly lacking if the look on the woman’s face meant anything. The bing of the elevator had Clark moving towards the one with the highlighted up arrow, and it was as he was about to step onto the elevator that someone pushed him out of the way and then pushed the close button.

“Hey!” Clark shouted bringing all of the attention of the area to him and the person the elevator now.

“This is full”

“Hey! No it isn’t” Clark said sticking his arm into the closing door hoping that he wouldn’t end up on the nightly news about the elevator taking off his arm off, as he had seen on the news on occasion when poor maintenance had been a factor.

“Yes it is” the bald man said before pressing the close button again making Clark pull his arm out at the last second, not wanting to lose said limb. By now it seemed as if the whole area was watching Clark and the elevator’s doors as the closed. Clark blushed when he noticed that everyone then began to speak to each other as if not believing what Clark had just done. Clark was trying not to look or even overhear what they were saying, so instead he pressed the up button yet again and then waited for the next elevator to come. A bing sounded shortly after Clark had pressed the up button and he then made his way onto the elevator before noticing that one other person had gotten on with him.

“What floor” Clark asked being polite, he was hoping that not everyone at the office building was as rude as the bald man.

“Fifteenth” the woman said before eyeing Clark and then grimacing. Who was this po-duck boy in the _Julian_ Magazine Building? Clark pressed the button before choosing his floor as well; Clark looked at himself in the mirror walls of the elevator and began to wonder on why he was even bothering with going through with this.

“Job interview” the other person on the elevator said before getting a nod in response to the questions.

“Hmmm” the person said before the elevator stopped and Clark made his way onto the floor looking a bit lost. The whole floor was done in purple, he wasn’t really sure what that meant but he had a feeling it wasn’t anything good.

“Can I help you” a woman with a perfect hair cut, perfect make-up and perfect outfit said to Clark eyeing him and his outfit. Clark didn’t think he looked that bad, his clothes were clean and he most certainly didn’t smell so why was it that everyone seemed to give him some sort of once over and deemed him not worthy? They didn’t know him and they certainly couldn’t judge him by their standards since it was obvious that it was lacking in some areas.

“I have an interview” Clark said before looking down at his piece of paper and finding the name of the person he would be meeting with.

“With whom” the woman asked still not believing that he was here for an interview.

“A, uh…Chloe Sullivan” Clark said reading the name off the paper he had in his hands.

“Ah” the woman said her displeasure very clear to Clark and pretty much anyone who was around. The woman then picked up the phone and called; who Clark assumed was Chloe Sullivan to let her know that her interviewee was there for her. It was while waiting that a short woman with a pixie hair cut came scuttling over to the front desk woman and started whispering in her ear while directing her eyes to Clark every few seconds.

“No he did not!?” The woman said scandalized by the words that the other woman had just told her, she got a nod in response to confirm her words and then she scuttled back away from where she came.

“Clark Kent” a blonde with a flippy hair cut said coming come through the doors that Clark had walked through a few minutes before hand.

“That’s me” Clark said before standing up since he had taken a seat on one of the uncomfortable stools that lined the walls.

“Hello, Chloe Sullivan” the woman said before sticking out her hand and then shaking Clark’s hand. Clark smiled a bit, this woman hadn’t yet done the normal once over and found him lacking something for which he was grateful.

“Follow me” Chloe said before marching right back out of the HR entry and then pressing the down elevator button so that they could go to where the translation department was held in the building.

“Going down” Chloe said before she pressed the B, which was below the P for parking and the LL for lower level on the list of floors and then watched as the doors closed before speaking again.

“So did you find the place okay?”

“Yeah, parking was hard to find though” Clark commented before they were making their way off the elevator, since the elevators were top of the line and zoomed up and down faster than most regular elevators.

“Welcome to the translation department” Chloe said before spreading her arms wide and then grinning to Clark. It wasn’t much but it was all hers and she was proud as peaches about it. Clark looked around the floor and had to admit that there was a different vibe going on down here than in the rest of the building. Most of the people that worked there seemed to still have the perfect thing going on, but they were much less up front with it. They just sort of wore the clothing to make sure that they continued to have a job, not that it was their job to look the way they did.

“Follow me” Chloe said before making her way into her office for the interview. She had heard from the rumor mill that ran _Julian_ that Clark had a run in with Lex and was still standing an amazing thing in her book.

“So let’s get down to business” Chloe said pulling out the file with Clark’s information in it, she had been looking for months now for a translator that could translate the magazine into Arabic since Lex had deemed the country of Qatar worthy of having their publication, and with that meant that they needed to find someone that could translate the magazine into written Arabic. Something that was very hard to find, sure there were those that could speak it fluently but she didn’t need a person to speak it she needed a person to write it and Clark had stated that it was one of the many languages that he spoke and wrote fluently. She was only just confirming this before she hired him on; she knew he fit the bill of the stereotype that worked at _Julian_ even if he did maybe need a bit of help in the fashion area.

“So it says that you speak and write Arabic fluently”

“Yes, I spent two summers and one semester in Morocco” Clark stated before looking at Chloe wondering if she would be testing him on if he really knew the language or not.

“Good, good” Chloe said excited to actually have a candidate that had spent time in a different country to learn the language. Most of the people she had interviewed had basic book knowledge nothing that was useable in the real world since most of the people who spoke and wrote a language did not do so in the formal way as was taught at schools.

“Can you maybe do a sample for me” Chloe asked, she had a small part of the magazine that she had been having each candidate translate, while she had a translated copy from a service to try and match up the two, seeing who was bluffing and who actually knew what they were doing.

“Sure, no problem” Clark said before Chloe handed over a pen, paper and the small part of an article to Clark. Clark read over the clipping and then set to work translating it; he found the article or what he could gather from the clipping he had to be fairly easy to translate.

“Here you go” Clark said passing the translation to Chloe ten minutes later, it was hard work writing out Arabic than it was saying it. Part of the reason why Clark liked to deal with paper and ink so much, he loved a challenge and writing out a language always presented their own sort of challenges. Chloe looked over the translation and was amazed; Clark had been the first and only person to translate the whole clipping she had given to him. There had been one or two others that has only translated part of it but it seemed she had found herself the next _Julian_ translator and that was Clark Kent; a man that was hot enough to be *inside* the magazine instead of translating it. Chloe tried but failed to not gape at Clark like a fish, Clark blushed at the look before sinking lower in the chair he was sitting in.

“Excellent” Chloe said once she snapped out of the stupor she had been in, maybe she would be able to sneak past Lex’s policy on meeting all new employees for she was certain that once Lex met Clark that she would have to start her search all over again. Lex didn’t take too kindly to being backed talked to, his latest junior assistant found that out and come to think of it, weren’t they still looking for a replacement? Chloe shook her head of the thoughts before standing up a wide grin on her face; oh she just couldn’t wait to get Clark down here with the rest of the language nerds.

“Come with me” Chloe said walking them out of her office and then showing Clark around the space that was deemed the Translation Department.

“Is there a reason why you are down here?” Clark hazard before Chloe began laughing; she could already tell that Clark would fit in just fine down here.

“We’re not part of the pretties so they stick us in a place where they don’t see us” Chloe explained, it would take a while for Clark to understand what she meant but she figured he would figure it out before he did some major damage to one of the pretties that could leave her possibly without a Arabic translator.

“Right” Clark said tucking the information away and figuring he would worry about it later when he had been hired, if he had been hired at all; when they arrived back to the HR floor it seemed that most had sort of gathered around the front desk to listen to the woman standing there talking about something. All fell silent when Chloe walked in with Clark besides her, the room then exploded with whispers about Clark and how he had done something to someone, Clark couldn’t quite understand or hear what they were saying.

“I need to speak to Alicia” Chloe said to the woman standing at the front desk, she got a nod of the head and then she was soon being lead back to Alicia’s office. Clark sort of stood not really sure what to do and it seemed that those that didn’t leave watched him with amazement in their eyes. He was still in the building and he had a bit of an altercation with Lex Luthor, *the man* of _Julian_.

“Clark” Chloe said a smile on her face before she was shaking Clark’s hand and telling him that they would be in touch soon. Clark smiled and then made his way back down to the main entrance of the building and then back out to his car. Once in his car he was finally able to breathe, he didn’t want to jinx himself but he was pretty sure that he had done really well on the interview. Granted it didn’t go like most interviews where the person asked you inane questions for a while before getting to the heart of why you were there but he didn’t think that Chloe Sullivan was that type of person. She wanted as little fuss as possible, and that was just fine with Clark. That would cut down on the gossip mill in the department unlike his own, which seemed to have its fill of drama and gossip. Clark arrived home twenty minutes later to see that there was yet again two messages for him.


	3. Enter Laurent and the Offer of a Life Time

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Clark has dinner with his boyfriend and Clark is offered the one job he would love to have.

“Clark, honey how did the interview go?” His mother’s voice said through the speakers of the phone.

“Call me as soon as you get in” she continued on before saying her goodbye and then hanging up the phone. The next message began shortly after the first and it was Laurent.

“Clark call me as soon as you get this” the man said before hanging up the phone without even a goodbye.

“Sure whatever” Clark said looking at the clock and wondering how Laurent had called since he should have been on a plane back to Metropolis. Clark decided to deal with Laurent first since he knew that the conversation would only last a few minutes, unlike with his mother; who could go on for hours before letting him go. Clark dialed the cell phone number for Laurent and got the man after the second ring.

“Hello” Laurent’s voice said through the phone, Clark could tell that wherever he was it was much quieter than the night before.

“Hey Laurent” Clark said in answer to Laurent’s greeting, knowing that the other man would know who it was.

“Clark” Laurent said his voice taking on a happy tone, which shocked Clark since he was certain that the model was going to break things off with him tonight.

“I just wanted to get things straight for tonight” the other man said in what Clark thought was an almost excited tone.

“Okay” Clark said very confused on what was going on, as he was most of the time when dealing with Laurent.

&ldquoHow about you meet me at Aureole at 5:30?” Laurent said before getting an answer from Clark.

“Sure” Clark said stunned, Laurent rarely wanted to go to a ‘hot spot’ like Aureole with him. He was usually an embarrassment to his lover since he tended to be a bit on the klutzy side and always managed to cause trouble when they were out.

“Wear something nice” Laurent said before ending the connection with the promise of seeing Clark at the restaurant.

“Right” Clark said still amazed at Laurent’s behavior.

“Mom next” Clark said before dialing the number to the farm and then waiting as the phone connected, listening to the phone ring.

“Kent Farms, Martha speaking” Martha said into the phone making Clark smile. Nothing ever changed with his parents and it was always something that soothed his nerves when the big city of Metropolis became too much.

“Hey mom” Clark said in greeting before his mother was squealing at hearing from her son.

“So how did it go?”

“I think it went well, I had a bit of a run in with some guy that worked there but besides that I think it went well”

“Was the person interviewing you nice?”

“Yeah, her name was Chloe Sullivan and she was just as nice as can be” Clark said before relaying his story about how he had been tested by translating something into Arabic, the language that they had been looking for a translator for.

“Well it does sound like you had a good interview” Martha said agreeing with her son, she had this feeling that the quote run in was more than just a random run in with a person but she didn’t tell her son that. He could be a bit clueless about the world around him sometimes.

“Well I think I think I am going to pick up a bit before getting ready for dinner with Laurent” Clark said before blushing. Even now at the age of twenty-five he stilled blushed whenever he spoke to his parents about his choice of partner; his father had been livid when he found out his son batted for the other team but when he saw how happy Clark was with his lifestyle, he had held his tongue and allowed Clark to live his life.

“He’s back” Martha said remembering when the other man had left to Italy for the fashion show he had been in.

“Yeah, should be arriving here in Metropolis in the next few hours I think” Clark said looking at the clock and seeing that it was well past noon. ‘Where had the day gone?’ Clark thought before talking to his mother a bit more and then ending the conversation with the promise to call her the moment he knew something. Once off the phone Clark made his way to his bedroom to find something that he would be able to wear at Aureole, he had seen on one of those shows on the Food Channel how upscale the restaurant was. It was the sort of place that CEOs took their wives when they wanted to have a private dinner, it was also the sort of place that most men took their significant others to ask them to marry them. Clark had been quite happy when that law had been passed by Congress and the Senate, since it abolished many of the laws that were in all the states about relations between two men or even two women. There had been an increase in marriages around the country and Clark was glad to see that most of them were of same sex couples, it showed him that true love really was out there. Clark shook his head of the thoughts about marriage, since he knew that Laurent wasn’t even known to be one of ‘those’ type of men. It took Clark a lot longer than he thought it would to pick out an outfit that wouldn’t have him being sent away from the restaurant immediately, he settled on a gray suit he had and a black button up shirt with no tie for he didn’t have one and he certainly wasn’t going to go out and buy one. Laurent had picked out this particular suit when he had forced Clark to go to one of the fashion shows that he had been in, in Metropolis. He had been decidedly uncomfortable at that show and had sworn never to go to another again if he could help it. It hadn’t helped his cause that he had managed to drench some famous muckity-mucks wife in his drink, but Clark had apologized and then scuttled away as quickly as he could. Laurent had been livid when he came looking for him, but the make-up sex had been explosive which made Clark grin at the memory as he dressed and got ready to meet Laurent at the restaurant. By the time that Clark arrived to the restaurant he had barely two minutes to spare before being late and that was one thing that Laurent hated, Clark being late to anything.

“Reservation” the host greeted Clark before taking in his suit and shirt and then licking their lips. He was a decidedly scrumptious piece of meat dressed in his suit and the host was very willing to show their interests. Clark stood there for a moment before he heard the sound of a car pulling up to the curb where the front doors of the restaurant was, soon Clark could see flashing from cameras going off as the person made their way out of the car and towards the front door of the restaurant.

“Excuse you” a man with a bald head, that Clark swore had been at the _Julian_ building said as he pushed Clark out of the way and to the host stand, before being whisked off to some table that had three other people already there. Clark turned bright red at the anger that was running through his veins, that was the *second* time that had happened and he was just about to step over to tell the man off when Laurent came striding into the restaurant looking all sorts of amazing, as he tended to do on a daily basis anyway.

“Clark” Laurent said kissing Clark on the cheek and checking out the people in the restaurant, before gasping which had Clark turning and asking if he was okay.

“Just fine” Laurent said before stating the name for the reservation and then waiting as the host showed them to their table. Clark noticed right away that Laurent was distracted, so maybe his thought about him breaking things off had been right and the happiness from earlier had been a rouse to make sure that Clark wouldn’t make a scene at the exclusive restaurant; but why come here if only to break things off?

“So” Clark said when it was apparent to him that Laurent was too deep in his people watching to carry a conversation with him. It was then he heard the other man mumbled under his breath something that set him on edge.

“I didn’t know *he* would be here tonight” Laurent mumbled not even noticing that Clark had heard his words. So this was how it was? Laurent was cheating on him with someone in the restaurant, how…..whore-ish of him. Clark craned his neck to see if he could maybe spy who it was that had Laurent’s attention but only came back to the table where the bald man that had pushed him, sat along with three others that looked to have been or be models. The sole woman of the group looked as if she had just stepped off the runway with her hair done to perfection and her dress hugging her body as if it was made just for her, and Clark thought that it might have just been made for her. The two men with the bald men also looked like models; both wearing the standard suit that was required of the restaurant but Clark knew that their suits probably cost more than his whole college loans did together. Clark chanced a glance at Laurent to see that he was still surveying the surroundings not really stopping at any particular table.

“Hello and welcome to Aureole, my name is Robert and I will be your waiter for the evening. Would you like to start out with a glass of wine this evening?” Their waiter asked looking at the both of them, Clark was uncertain on how much a glass of wine cost and he wasn’t going to pay anymore than he had to if Laurent planned to break things off with him.

“I’m fine” Clark said before Laurent was agreeing to the glass of wine not even worrying about the price, it made Clark wonder but when Laurent’s attention was again focused elsewhere, he began to form a speech in his brain on how best to go and break things off with Laurent. Sure he was a model but that didn’t give him the right to treat him as if he was second best, there when Laurent didn’t have anyone else to see or speak to. It was during their second course of the meal that Laurent decided to put a bit of attention on Clark, as he hadn’t been doing the whole rest of the time.

“So” Laurent said not really looking at Clark but speaking to him anyway, this had Clark looking up and eyeing Laurent like he was crazy. Now he wanted to speak to him, whereas before any conversations had been shot down by the other man when chanced.

“Yeah” Clark said before sitting back and watching as Laurent started fidgeting, he was nervous about something but Clark couldn’t figure out what. They had broken up before and Laurent had never been this fidgety the other times. Laurent had opened up his mouth but then closed it with a snap when he saw that the waiter was making his way over to their table with a stunned look on his face.

“For you” the waiter said setting down a glass of wine in front of Laurent, when asked where and who it came from the waiter only nodded his head towards the table with the bald man and the models at it.

“Oh, wow!” Laurent said before smiling and then giving a bit of a wave, it was at this time that Clark saw red. He was being treated like sloppy seconds to the bald man and he wasn’t going to have it. He was tired of always having to try his hardest to keep the affection and attention of Laurent, so if Laurent wouldn’t break things off he would and he would do it right now. That way it would free up Laurent to go and play with the bald man and his models, a place that it looked like Laurent wanted to be anyway.

“Laurent” Clark called out and didn’t receive a response; he tried two more times before Laurent even noticed that he was sitting with someone else at his table.

“Why don’t I make this easy for you” Clark finally said when he saw that he had Laurent’s attention, Laurent on the other hand looked quite confused over Clark’s words.

“What….”

“I think it is best that we don’t see each other anymore, I’ll get your things together at my apartment and if you could get mine together then that would be great and we can meet in the next couple of days to swap them” Clark said before standing and leaving, he certainly wasn’t going to stay there and continue to watch Laurent drool over the bald guy and he knew that Laurent could afford to foot the bill until he got some cash so that he could pay the other man back.

“Clark!” Laurent shouted before making his way towards where Clark now stood waiting for his car from the valet. Clark acted as if he didn’t hear Laurent calling his name, there was no need to go through this there.

“Clark” Laurent said once he caught up with Clark, who was still standing waiting for his car.

“What is going on” Laurent said confused, he had thought that he would have a nice dinner with his significant other, Clark and then spend the night with Clark. None of that seemed to be happening, instead Clark had broken up with him and Lex Luthor was sending him wine, he wasn’t really sure what had happened but he was confused.

“Nothing” Clark said in answer to Laurent’s words and it was true, nothing was going on which was the reason on why he was leaving.

“But I thought we could spend some time together”

“That would require you to be here”

“I am here” Laurent said confused on what Clark meant.

“Sure you were here for all of five seconds before you started scanning the restaurant and then you were gone” Clark said before handing the valet a couple of dollars as he got his keys and his car.

“What…” Laurent didn’t get to finish what he was asking since it seemed the bald guy came out looking for Laurent. Clark just shook his head in the car and then sped away, not even looking back to see the conversation that was no doubt happening between the pair. Clark arrived home angry at himself for even thinking that Laurent was a good guy and was looking for a long term relationship. He guessed that when he picked Laurent up at a gay night club that it would indicate the type of person Laurent was, but he had held out hope and their relationship had been going on two years and was strong. It was definitely something that all his friends envied, but now he had nothing and maybe it was better that way. He always worried that Laurent would take his model status to the point where he was sleeping with the locals of where the fashion shoot was and then come home to him. It made him cringe at the thought of some of things that he knew that Laurent got up to, when he had met the man he had been a strung out model, looking for a way to score but Clark had taken him in and cleaned him up and now he was one of the most sought after male models of the industry. It had made Clark proud at the time when Laurent had come home, grin on his face with a check for fifty thousand dollars, a signing bonus for the new model agency that had signed him but now, well now he wished that he had never met him. Clark could say that he wasn’t in love with Laurent but that didn’t make the pain of the break up any less, it just made him realize that maybe hanging on was hurting the both of them. Laurent was a play boy if Clark ever saw one, and if he had been faithful as he stated to Clark on multiple occasions then he had changed and Clark was certain on one thing about people and that it was that they *don’t* change. They had broken up a few times because of Laurent fucking or sucking some other man and being caught in the act. He had stated then that he was done with that sort of thing and that Clark was all he wanted, but it would only be a few months later that Laurent was back to doing the same thing. Clark arrived to his apartment with an almost lighter heart, he of course would miss Laurent but since he had prepared himself for the break up he was sort of glad that he was alone now, or again as the case may be.

“Clark call me, please!” Clark heard as he made his way into his apartment, it seemed that Laurent was leaving another message, since there was already a blinking five showing on the phone. Clark snorted, what was there to talk about? He didn’t do pity fucks and he most certainly didn’t do threesomes, so Clark figured that anything that Laurent had to say could be best said over a message. The phone rang a moment later as Clark was in the kitchen making himself a sandwich, Aureole wasn’t known for their hearty portions. So the place left him angry and hungry, never a good thing when dealing with Clark.

“Clark! Please call me back!” Laurent said leaving yet another message, which of course made Clark, shake his head. They really had nothing to say to each other, but Clark figured that he would be courteous and call Laurent back and see what he wanted. Once finished with his sandwich did Clark make his way over to the where the phone sat in the cradle, picking it up and dialed Laurent’s cell phone number and then waited for the phone to connect.

“Clark!” Laurent said picking up after the first ring.

“What do you want?” Clark growled out, he didn’t want to deal with the drama of Laurent at the current moment in time. What he wanted to do was sit on his stool in front of his 40 inch flat panel TV and play video games. It had been a long day and he wasn’t in the mood to deal with people especially Laurent, no his video game console called to him instead. Clark eyed the piece of equipment while Laurent rambled on about something that he had no interest in.

“Laurent, what do you want?” Clark said again when it seemed that Laurent had gotten off the subject of why he had called in the first place.

“Honey we can….”

“Work things out? Oh, give me a break Laurent. You were more focused on that bald guy than on me and since you were the one that asked me there it was the least you could do was actually pay attention to me” Clark said, he had grown up a lot since his time in Smallville. Gone was the shy pushover and instead now stood where there was still a shy man but he definitely didn’t put up with people treating him like he wasn’t worth the effort.

“Clark” Laurent said on the other end of the phone before Clark could hear that Laurent had placed his hand over the speaker of the phone. Seemed that even when he was on the phone Laurent was choosing someone over him. He hung up the phone; he didn’t want to even be connected via phone to the other man at the current moment. The phone rang a moment later and Clark answered figuring that it was Laurent calling to see why he had hung up on the other man. He was right of course because Laurent’s voice came through the phone clear and angry.

“Why did you hang up on me?”

“You seemed busy” Clark answered back, it wasn’t like he was going to allow Laurent back in his life right now. He had possibly a new job and with that he had decided that maybe starting out fresh was the best idea for him. Find him a man that would appreciate him, unlike Laurent, who it seemed was in a conversation yet again while on the phone with him.

“Look, you can choose me or the person you are talking to” Clark said knowing that Laurent wasn’t listening to him, and that was sort of the point for he was making the decision for Laurent to be cut out of his life.

“Laurent” Clark called and received no response back, it was then that Clark hung up the phone and didn’t plan on answering it again. His video games could console him until such time that he decided that answering the phone wouldn’t have Laurent on the other end of the phone.

“Drama queen” Clark said before flicking on his TV and then his video game console, it was the weekend and Clark planned to take all his free time and play with his ‘little games’ as Laurent called them when they got in the way of Clark’s whole attention being directed at Laurent. Clark snorted at the thoughts that were running through his head, Laurent really was a drama queen and was quite vocal about it to and it made Clark wonder how he put up with such crap for so long. The phone rang a moment later as Clark’s game loaded, which was some fighting game that he had gotten on sale at the mall.

“Clark” Laurent’s voice screamed to him over the phone, he could tell that Laurent was in a car of some sort but that was about it. Clark really hope that Laurent wasn’t coming over, he didn’t want to deal with the man at the present moment in time. His game was finally loaded and he was ready to kick some ass, and he knew that if Laurent saw him sitting on his stool and playing video games that he would go off.

“I’m coming over” Clark heard before cursing in all the languages he knew, which were quite a few. Clark stood from his sitting on the stool and turned off each and every light in the apartment with only the TV lighting up the living room. That should slow Laurent down, and since he didn’t own a cell phone; a total personal preference that had Laurent livid for days, the man couldn’t call him to find out where he was. ‘Perfect!’ Clark thought while turning down the volume of the TV and then kicking some hybrid animal’s ass in two rounds. The knock or more like banging on his door had him getting his ass kicked until he paused the game, to cease the ass kicking. He couldn’t focus on the game and trying to stay quiet while Laurent was outside his door.

“I know you’re in there, so open up” Laurent said through the door, and Clark hunkered down on his stool. He was _not_ going to move and he most certainly was _not_ going to answer the door.

“Clark” Laurent said now yelling through the door, he knew how much Clark hated drawing attention to himself and Laurent was doing a splendid job of drawing attention to Clark’s door.

“Open up the door” Laurent said as if knowing that Clark was in there and deciding on if it was a good idea to answer the door or not. When Clark heard Laurent’s cell phone ring, he breathed a sigh of relief. Laurent always answered his cell phone; it didn’t matter the time of day or where he was at. It always bugged Clark, which was part of the reason for his no cell phone policy he made to himself.

“Laurent” Clark heard through the phone and then he could hear Laurent walking away from his door, talking fast and excited about something.

“Finally” Clark said before un-pausing the game and then proceeding to kick the hybrid animal’s ass, thinking the whole time that it was Laurent or maybe the rude bald guy that he had run into twice now. For the rest of the weekend, Clark hid in his apartment with Laurent calling and stopping by to ‘talk’ to Clark about their evening on Friday. By Monday morning, Clark was glad to be going into work; that way Laurent couldn’t hound him on the phone and he was well away from his apartment that Laurent had taken up to visiting at odd hours thinking he would catch Clark off guard or something.

“You have to be kidding me?” Clark heard as he walked into his department and over to his cube, which was in the farthest corner he could get away from the crazy women that he worked with.

“No, and the girl was knocking on her wall like I was going to answer her or something”

“Did you” another woman asked as Clark walked past the group of women that seemed to be holding court about the drama that had occurred over the weekend in one of the women’s apartment complex.

“Hell to the nah, I didn’t answer her knocking on the wall. She came to the door and wanted to know if I could watch her kids while she went to the club”

“To the club?” Clark heard before be placed on his headphones to drowned out the noise until such time that he could escape by doing a translation. Mondays were always slow, so Clark proceeded to log into his computer and then check his email, at least his work email before he noticed that one of his co-workers was standing at his desk.

“Hi” Clark said a pleasant smile on his face, he did not want to piss this woman off she was the admin for the office and doing so would put you in a world of hurt.

“Dani wants to talk to you” she said before turning and making her way back to where the women were still standing around listening to one woman tell her weekend story, yet again.

“Knock, knock” Clark said before walking into the office and giving his boss a smile. He so hoped that she didn’t ask where he had been on Friday, he tried hard to make sure that the office knew as little as possible about his personal life and he had done a fairly good job of it. None of them in the office knew he was gay and had a model boyfriend, something he was quite proud of hiding from them. They were the gossip whores of the hospital and nothing ever got by them.

“How was your weekend?”

“Too short” Clark said before smiling and laughing a bit, he could see his boss was trying to get information out of him.

“As always” Dani said before she was leaning over her desk and giving Clark a hard stare, as if she knew what Clark had been up to on his day off. Clark was certain that she was going to start in on the ‘not wanting to lose you speech’ as she had done a few times before but she seem to think better of it and decided instead to lean back in her chair and then shooing Clark out of her office.

“Crazy” Clark mumbled to himself while making his way back to his cube. Clark spent the majority of the day sitting at his desk, since it seemed that Dani had decided that the seven others in the office had better start working. Maybe she knew something; she did always seem to have a way of knowing what went on in the office without anyone telling her. The others were not happy about when she came by their desks to ask about what they were doing, none of them had any work to speak of so she had gone and gotten a huge stack of papers that she said needed translation to multiple languages. She had passed those out and soon the office was quiet, no one willing to cross Dani since she was in some sort of mood. By the time that Clark arrived home, he was certain that Dani knew of his interview at _Julian_ , he was certain of it. He wasn’t sure how she knew, but she knew, at least he thought she knew. Clark wanted to groan when he was that Laurent was standing casually at his doorway, dressed in the most expensive pair of jeans and a t-shirt, with a bag of what looked to be food in his hands.

“Clark” Laurent said as if it was every day that he came over with a bag of food looking all sorts of welcome there.

“Laurent” Clark said eyeing the man and wondering what he wanted, well he did know what he wanted but Clark certainly wasn’t going to give it to him that was for sure. He could go and ask bald guy to be his pussy for the night, although the bald guy didn’t strike Clark as the type of guy to be the one taking it up the ass.

“I brought dinner”

“I see, but you can take that right back to your apartment” Clark said not unlocking the door to the apartment, Laurent would take that as in invitation and Clark wanted the man nowhere in his apartment at the current moment in time.

“Clark can we talk about this?” Laurent said before waving his free hand between the pair of them.

“Nothing to talk about” Clark said before leaning on the hallway wall near his apartment.

“Clark don’t be like this” Laurent said stepping closer to Clark and then running a hand down Clark’s face. Clark so wanted to lean into the heat of Laurent’s hand but resisted, he knew that was what Laurent was looking for. It had been a long couple of months without Laurent there to wake up next to, but he had made do and he would continue to do so until he found someone that wanted him for him and not what he could be.

“Clark come on, it’s just dinner” that was probably the worst thing that Laurent could have said to Clark at that moment in time. It had been dinner of Friday as well, but that had turned out to be a mess that Clark wanted to avoid thinking about at all costs and here Laurent was bringing it up, sort of.

“It was dinner on Friday but you seemed to be a bit busy then”

“Clark come on! Don’t be like this!” Laurent said giving Clark a look that told him how much the other man was not enjoying the fight they were having in the hallway.

“Laurent just leave, or better yet” Clark said remembering the box of items he had at the front door for Laurent. Laurent’s eyes lit up when he saw Clark unlock the door, but they dimmed when Clark pulled the box near the front door out and held it for Laurent.

“Clark” Laurent said his voice clearly telling Clark that this was not what he wanted, and usually what Laurent wanted Laurent got, but not this time. Clark had been hurt too many times by Laurent to break his resolve on breaking things off with Laurent, and for good this time.

“Just take the damn box and leave” Clark said going into his apartment and then slamming the door on Laurent’s face. He didn’t even bother to check and see if Laurent still stood there, for he had heard the cell phone ring just moments after he had slammed the door. Once he was certain that he was alone did Clark make his way towards where his phone sat with a blinking 2 on it, telling him he had two messages; Clark pressed the play button and listening to the first message which was Laurent telling him he would be by for dinner and some talking. Clark deleted the message as soon as possible leaving one more message, Clark was pretty certain it was either his mother or some collector looking for C. Kent that hadn’t paid some bill or another.

“This message is for Clark Kent, my name is Alicia Baker and I am with _Julian_ Magazine and we would like to offer you the position of Arabic Translator for the magazine. If you could call me back at 555-2539, as soon as possible, thank you and I look forward to hearing from you” Clark was stunned, they wanted him! They really wanted him! Clark whooped for joy before dialing the farm phone number.

“Kent Farms, Martha speaking” Clark’s mom said before she heard her son’s voice.

“What’s got you so excited?”

“They are going to offer me the job” Clark said a huge grin on his face, he just couldn’t help it.

“Wow, oh wow” Martha said to her son before sitting down in a chair. She figured that anyone with a brain would realize what a talent her son had but for a magazine such as _Julian_ to take notice was a huge deal. She had tried and failed to tell her son that _Julian_ was a magazine that was known worldwide, but he had brushed off her words and told her that he didn’t really care.

“I’ll call them first thing tomorrow morning” Clark said excited before laughing at the excitement he left, he wasn’t really sure on how he planned to give his notice at the hospital but he figured he would worry about that tomorrow when he was certain he had the job. Right now he just had a message that said they wanted to offer him the job, they could try and yank him around on his salary and he would still be stuck at his dead end job at the hospital.

“You do that dear, so how did dinner with Laurent go?” Martha asked not knowing that there had been a big blow up between the pair.

“Not so great, he was busy searching the restaurant most of the time and when I called him on it, he acted as if he didn’t know what I was talking about.”

“Well that doesn’t sound good”

“No, so I told him that it might be best that we not see each other”

“Clark”

“He was too busy drooling over some guy at the restaurant to really put up too much of a fight”

“If you think it is for the best” Martha said happy that Clark had finally gotten rid of Laurent, she didn’t like the man and never had. She thought he wasn’t good enough for her son, and when she found out that he had been strung out on drugs at one point in time, any points he had gained were lost and he was in the ‘not good enough’ column in her mind.

“I think so and with this new job….” Clark said holding out hope that maybe he would be able to meet someone at work that would be better for him than Laurent.

“A fresh start” Martha said before she and Clark chatted for a bit more before ending the call. It was just as soon as Clark hung up the phone that it rang again, he was pretty sure that it was Laurent but he answered anyway.

“Clark” Kara Kent’s voice came through the phone, Clark sighed at the voice. She was almost bad if not worse than Laurent about certain things.

“Kara”

“So do you know anything?” Kara asked excited with the idea of her cousin working at _Julian_. She already was planning her first visit to the building when Clark began work there, she was going to make herself available for Lex Luthor and hopefully he would notice her and whisk her away.

“Well they called” Clark said before he heard Kara squeal like she was ten years old or something.

“This is so great!”

“I didn’t accept the job” Clark said trying to fight with Kara and telling her that just because she and Lana Lang wanted him to accept the job that he wasn’t going to.

“Of course you will!” Kara said in a scandalous tone, as if the mere thought of him not accepting was offensive.

“I have to see what they are offering first” Clark said before he listened to Kara yell at him for ten minutes before then hanging up on him and saying that she wouldn’t speak to him until he came to senses.

“Thank god” Clark said happy that he knew that Kara wouldn’t be calling for a while; instead it would Lana no doubt. Kara and Lana were thick as thieves and if one was mad at him then the other would do their dirty work, it had been that way since high school and that had been almost ten years now. For the rest of the evening Clark bounced around his apartment thinking about what sort of benefits the magazine had and what they would offer as his salary. The next morning Clark was up and ready for work early so that he could call Alicia Baker at _Julian_ before going into work. He didn’t think it would take too long for them to offer the job to him.

“Alicia Baker” a woman’s voice answered the phone number that Clark had dialed.

“Hello, my name is Clark Kent and you left a message for me” Clark said before he heard some papers being shuffled and then Alicia was speaking.

“Correct, _Julian_ Magazine’s translation department would like to offer you the Arabic translator position”

“Okay” Clark said smiling into the phone; it felt good to know that someone else wanted him besides the hospital.

“Is it possible for you to come in to talk about the offer?” Alicia said looking at her calendar on her computer screen and seeing that she had a bit of time that day for Clark.

“Uh sure” Clark said wondering if he would be able to get to leave work with Dani watching him like a hawk now.

“Well I have some time at 2:30, is that okay?”

“Great” Clark said happy that it was later in the day, which meant that he could play that he had an appointment that he would be at for the rest of the day.

“I’ll see you then, do you know where the HR department is?”

“Yes, I remember” Clark said shuttering at the thought of having to deal with the woman who worked the front desk of the HR department.

“Excellent, see you then” Alicia said before saying goodbye and then hanging up the phone.

“Now to get Dani to agree” Clark said before making his way out the door and then to his car so that he could make his way to work. Clark arrived on time and made his way over to Dani’s office to ask for the second half of the day off, for some appointment that he had forgotten about until last night when they left a message on his phone.

“Clark” Dani said surprised to see Clark so early in the morning in her office. She always made time to visit with the shy but handsome man that worked in her department.

“Ummm, I’m going to need the second half of the day off” Clark blurted out, no point in beating around the bush that was for sure.

“Oh” Dani said, she had the feeling that Clark had been looking for a new job and she couldn’t really blame him since the department was in total chaos most of the time which left him picking up the slack something that she had worried about.

“Is that okay”

“Yes, that is fine. Just fill out a PTO request and I will sign it. Is everything okay?” Dani asked concerned that maybe Clark was having some medical issues that she didn’t know about.

“Yeah” Clark said before making his way back to desk to fill out the form that Dani had requested. Once he had it signed he spent the rest of the morning translating some research forms into Spanish, since it seemed that the study was targeted to the Hispanic population. Clark left work at 2 o’clock, figuring that would give him enough time to get to the _Julian_ building and find a parking spot. Luck was with Clark again since he managed to find a spot with little trouble before he was locking his car and making his way to the large glass and metal building that still held perfect people standing outside and inside of the building. Clark made a bee line over to the elevators and then pressed the up arrow, hoping that he wouldn’t have a run in with the bald guy that he had the last time. He wasn’t sure he would be able to hold his tongue if he did, Clark was lucky since no one entered the elevator with him as he made his way up to the tenth floor where the HR department.

“Can I help you?” The front desk woman asked sneering at Clark and what he had on, he of course didn’t have a business suit or something that looked like it cost a million bucks but there was no need to be rude to him.

“I have an appointment to see Alicia Baker” Clark said before the woman was clacking away on her keyboard and then telling him to sit while she called Alicia to tell her that her appointment was here.

“Hello, Alicia Baker” a woman mid-length blonde hair said with her hand out waiting for Clark to shake it. She was a bit stunned that someone that looked as good as Clark did was going to be working down in the Translation Department with Chloe Sullivan. Most thought that the department was a laugh and a half with most of them looking like pen protector nerds, not something that the magazine was known for.

“Clark Kent” Clark said shaking her hand before he was escorted past the horrible front desk woman and back to where Alicia’s office was located.

“Have a seat” Alicia said pointing to one of the chairs that sat in her office, she was still shocked over Clark’s looks and she wasn’t going to be the one to let him get away from _Julian_ that was for sure. They were trying to project an image and with the dork patrol residing in the Translation Department, _Julian_ wasn’t being represented well at all. Chloe Sullivan was the only saving grace of the department, but it seemed that they would be adding another person to that group as well.

“Arabic Translator” Alicia said before asking Clark a couple of questions, which Clark knew had nothing to do about the job.

“Now let’s get down to business” Alicia said before pulling out another file and then looking it over and nodding her head as if she was agreeing to something on the paper.

“ _Julian_ is willing to offer you sixty thousand dollar, annually and benefits that begin the first day of your employment” Alicia was quite worried that Clark wouldn’t take the offer, it was a bit low for the language he was translating, but she wasn’t known as the best HR rep for nothing. Clark took in the number, it was much higher than what he had searched and found on the internet but he could tell he could get more. Arabic wasn’t a language that most people were trying to learn, so he figured that he could manage get a few more thousands of dollars before giving in.

“I was hoping for a bit more since the language is…..complex to learn and to maintain fluency…..” Clark sai;, he wasn’t really sure on how best to go about asking for more money without sounding greedy.

“Very true, let me see what I can do” Alicia said before she got on the phone and called Chloe, she was after all the person pushing for the hiring. If the man wanted more money than she was all for giving it to him, at least for him, she need only to get approval from the department’s director. After a brief conversation that Clark was certain he was the center of, Alicia hung up the phone and then presented him with another offer.

“I spoke with the director of the department and they are willing up go up to seventy-five thousand dollars and benefits that start on day one” Clark was speechless, he had figured they would bump up the number to sixty-five and he would accept, now he was getting well over fifteen thousand dollars extra, talk about negotiations!

“That would be fine” Clark said after he got over the fact that he would be making two times more than what he was making at the hospital, that was one good thing about the private sector. They always paid better and benefits were pretty good as well, although working at a hospital gave you a bit of freedom on your medical care since things were much cheaper for employees than for outside patients.

“Excellent” Alicia said before she began writing up some paperwork to get the whole process started with Clark.

“When would be the soonest you could start?” Alicia asked looking at the calendar and figuring out which New Hire Orientation he would be able to go into and when he would meet with Lex Luthor. It was company policy that every new employee meet with Lex, and it seemed that in the next couple of weeks they would be lucky to get any of the new hires to meet the man. It was a busy time at the magazine and the fashion world as a whole, but Lex always made sure to meet with his new employees. He said it made him more accessible, Alicia thought he was crazy. Most feared him and stayed clear of him and the twentieth floor, where his office and his assistants were located.

“Well I would have to give my two weeks at my current job” Clark explained before Alicia was shooting a date at him that was after the two week mark.

“I think that would be fine” Clark said before Alicia began speaking again.

“When you arrive there will be signs telling you where to go, you can dress in business casual attire until you reached your department. Which is where they will tell you the dress code policy for the department, since you are in the Translation Department, I don’t think you have to worry too much” Alicia said, before blushing. She was already giving secrets about the company and their policies to Clark, she hadn’t meant to but she had seen how uncomfortable he had become when she started talking about dress code, at least for the orientation so she began to try and talk him down, so to speak.

“Okay, what time do I need to arrive?”

“8 AM” Alicia said before she handed over a folder to Clark that had the name _Julian_ on the front done in purple and the folder was black, and odd combination Clark thought but didn’t question it.

“All of the information I told you is in this packet, now if you could just sign this for me” Alicia said handing over the offer letter that was required by Lex for all hires. Clark looked it over and saw what it was and then signed where indicated.

“See you in a couple of weeks” Alicia said after shuffling some more papers and having Clark sign a few others that would allow her to set him up for the new hire orientation in a couple of weeks. Clark soon left the HR department and the building with a lighter heart. He had a job! A better job no less. Clark rode all the way home with a grin on his face; he was going to make a killing at something he loved to do. The hospital had been a great place to start out but he had been there for two years and in that time he was the one person in the department that seemed to care about the work that they did. The smile that was on Clark’s face fell off as soon as he saw the pretentious car sitting outside of his building. It seemed that Laurent had come for a visit, something he was hoping wouldn’t occur for a while.


	4. A Sexy Gnat and a Job Propsal

“I just can’t get a break can I?” Clark said to the empty inside of his car as he pulled into his parking spot and then made his way to his apartment.

“Clark” Laurent said standing by his door again, dressing as he had before in probably the most expensive pair of jeans and t-shirt out there on the market.

“Laurent what do you want?”

“Can we talk?”

“What is there to talk about?” Clark said he was really quite tired of this game that Laurent was playing and he knew it was a game. He had played it before with the other man, Laurent would show up until he wore Clark down and took him back and then things would proceed as if they had never broken up in the first place.

“Us”

“There is no us any more” Clark said knowing that this would piss Laurent off.

“That is the problem”

“Well that sounds like a personal problem” Clark said before glaring at Laurent, he was not going to feel like a total heel for dumping Laurent because he couldn’t keep his eyes to himself while he was out with his boyfriend.

“Clark” Laurent said with a sigh, as if it was physically paining him to explain to Clark the situation at the restaurant once again.

“Look, just leave” Clark said before opening up his door and then slamming the door in Laurent’s face. He was certain that the other man thought he was going to let him in to talk, but he had been wrong.

“We will talk about this” Laurent said as his parting shot before making his way back out to his car and then speeding down the street angry that his plan to get Clark to take him back didn’t work, as it had before.

“I swear” Clark said before making his way over to the phone and dialing the number to the farm.

“Kent Farms, Martha speaking”

“Hey mom” Clark said trying to hide his excitement, he soooo wanted to tell her the good news but figured he could play with her a bit beforehand.

“So how did it go?”

“You know” Clark said before his mother squeaked at him to just tell her.

“I have a new job!” Clark crowed before laughing at his mother and her telling him not to do that to his old mother.

“You’re not old mom” Clark said before laughing again when he thought about how much money he was going to be making. It would more than help out at the farm, he had been sending part of his salary back to the farm to make sure that the land and house weren’t taken away from his parents. Now he had more than enough money to send to his parents so that they could finally send their organic produce further than just Smallville.

“So spill already” his mother said before she listened to Clark’s story about how he had negotiated for more money.

“How much more”

“Oh…fifteen thousand more” Clark said before laughing at the scream his mother gave at the amount of money he had managed to get out of the magazine.

“I’m proud of you for that, but how *much* are you brining home?”

“Ummm….” Clark was a bit uncertain on how to tell his mother the amount of money he would be making yearly; it was something that left him uncomfortable.

“Clark”

“Seventy-five thousand yearly with benefits from day one” Clark said quickly before there was silence from his mother on the phone.

“Mom” Clark said when his mother didn’t speak for a few moments, and then minutes.

“Seventy-five thousand?”

“Yeah”

“Clark” Martha finally said snapping out of her stupor and then whooping around the kitchen until his father came in and heard the good news.

“How much?!” Clark heard his father say and then his mother telling him and then he was pretty sure he could hear them dancing.

“I’m still here you know” Clark joked before the three of them were planning out things for the farm. That was how Clark spent the rest of his night, on the phone with his parents planning out things that were needed for the farm or that they could do with their organic produce. Clark had suggested that they maybe go to the Metropolis Farmer’s Market one weekend and try to sell their goods before making any commitments. His parents agreed and then let him off the phone when they realized how long they had been on the phone with him. Clark fell asleep with thoughts of produce and translations running through his dreams. The next morning was a morning that he was dreading; he was to give his two weeks’ notice to Dani. Clark arrived as he always did and even managed to find a parking spot on the second level of the parking garage before making his way into the hospital and then to the translation department. When he arrived he noticed that none of his coworkers were up and chatting that morning, had there been a meeting about that while he was gone, Clark wondered.

“Clark” Dani said before she was pulling him into her office. She had spoken to the VP of the department and got an okay to offer Clark more money. Anything really to keep him there, he was the only worker that actually did any work.

“Have a seat” Dani said pointing to one of the chairs in her office.

“Is everything okay?” Clark asked, he was a bit concerned on the change in the office but since he was going to give his two weeks he wasn’t too concerned.

“Well we are making some changes here in the office and I wanted to know if you have been looking for a new job?”

“Yeah” Clark said sort of relieved to be telling Dani this, it would make it easier to break that he was leaving to her.

“And have you found anything?”

“A position as an Arabic Translator” Clark said not saying where the job was, just what the job was.

“And have they offered you the job” She knew she was toeing the line on this, but she needed to know if there was any sort of chance at keeping Clark at the hospital.

“Yeah”

“I know it isn’t my place but how much have they offered?”

“Uh” Clark said clearly unsettled with the way the conversation had gone.

“Clark I have been working hard with the VP of the department to get things back up to shape from the previous director’s actions”

“Oh” Clark said having heard about how the previous director was much better than the one they had currently from some overheard conversation of his co-workers.

“We want to keep you here, and we are very *willing* to fight for you”

“Oh, um” Clark said speechless, he had never thought that his department director was willing to fight to keep him there. He just figured that she thought he came to collect a pay check like the rest of the workers in the department.

“So how much”

“….”Clark said nothing for a moment before deciding to see if the hospital was willing to go above the amount that the magazine had.

“Clark”

“Seventy-five” he said and then watched as the stunned look over took her face.

“Private sector, I assume”

“Yes” Clark agreed before Dani was leaning back in her chair, shocked and amazed. Clark didn’t strike her as the type of person to fight for what he was worth; he would just sort of take what he got and work up from there.

“If we could offer more or the same would you stay?” Clark had to think about the question. Would he be willing to stay at the hospital if they were willing to match or beat what he had been offered?

“Yes” Clark said he liked his job well enough and if they planned to get rid of his co-workers than he was willing to love his job but only if they met or exceeded what he was offered by _Julian_.

“Let me get with the VP and see what we can do?” Dani said before dismissing him to his desk where he signed into his computer and then spent a good portion of the morning translating the research documents, yet again. It was just after lunch, from which he had managed to evade Laurent since he had shown up to the hospital looking for him, that Dani came to his desk looking grim.

“Follow me” she said as they made their way back to her office. The office by now was speculating on what was really going on in the office, why it had quiet, shy Clark in there for the second time that day.

“So I spoke with the VP and the best we can do is sixty-five”

“Oh” Clark said a bit down, he had hoped that they would meet the offer he had at _Julian_ but it seemed not to be.

“Since you aren’t going to focus on one particular language it is the best we can do, with the current market values”

“I see” Clark said thinking that since he wasn’t focused on one language that he was worth more, not less.

“Then I’m sorry, but I need to give my two weeks’ notice” Clark said he was going to stand firm, his parents needed the extra money and he wasn’t going to buckle under the pressure.

“I understand; would it be alright if you maybe worked on a consulting basis?” Dani said not wanting to let him go entirely.

“Um, sure” Clark said stunned, he was going to make even more money! How had this happened?

“Excellent!” Dani said excited, they weren’t losing Clark entirely, sure he had a new job but she would make sure that they sent out anything that was important to him until such time that they could woo him back to the hospital.

“Just write up the notice letter and then I will get things rolling on the consulting status for you”

“Okay” Clark said before opening his mouth to ask about money and things like that.

“You know how things work here, so HR will call you in a bit” Dani said a smile on her face before shooing him out of her office so that she could get things rolling. It might be best if Clark was gone, that way when they got rid of the rest of the office they wouldn’t be able to have a grudge against him for being the only person that was allowed to stay. This was working out better than she had planned. Clark made his way to his desk, shocked for all of three seconds before one of his co-workers came over and started asking questions. Clark gave them nothing and then they were sent back to their desk to speculate over what was really going on. Clark quickly began typing up his notice letter and then made his way back to Dani’s office before handing her the letter; she took it and then gave Clark a grin and told him she was on the phone with HR as he stood there.

“Clark” the admin said as soon as he made his way out of Dani’s office.

“Uh, yeah” Clark said he was pretty certain that the admin wasn’t going to ask him what was going on, but he could never be too sure.

“There’s some guy here for you” she said before her eyes drifting over to where Laurent stood looking all sorts of sexy. Clark had to laugh; the admin in the office was less than impressed with Laurent, unlike the rest of the office; who were drooling over him.

“What do you want” Clark growled to Laurent, this was getting ridiculous; showing up at his job now for the second time?

“We need to talk”

“No we don’t and don’t you ever come back here” Clark growled/whispered before pushing Laurent out the door and then stalking to his desk. Oh he was pissed, it was one thing for Laurent to show up at his apartment but it was another for him to show up at his place of work twice. He had told Laurent multiple times during their relationship that he was never to come to the hospital for any reason that didn’t deal with seeking out medical care from the ER or one of the clinics there.

“I’m going to kill him slowly and painfully” Clark mumbled at his desk, trying hard not to listen in as his co-workers went nuts over Laurent and ‘wasn’t he the model for the Ed Hardy line and possibly the Gucci eyewear line as well?’ Clark was in the middle of planning his murder of Laurent when his phone rang at his desk.

“Translation Department, this is Clark” Clark answered the phone, not recognizing the extension that was calling him.

“This is Meghan from HR”

“Oh, hello” Clark said surprised to be hearing from HR so soon, he knew Dani could move fast but this fast? And at the city hospital no less, which was really saying something.

“You got some time?”

“Sure”

“Can you come on down to the basement then, in say ten minutes?”

“Sure” Clark said remembering where the HR department was in the hospital. When he had been guided there for the first time he thought the people had lost their minds, but when he arrived to the HR office and saw that there were actually people that worked in the basement of the hospital he had breathed a sigh of relief.

“See you then” the woman said before hanging up the phone and then Clark was locking up his computer and making his way to the elevators that would take him down to the basement and to where HR and a few other departments were for the hospital. Once he arrived he was escorted back by Meghan and then they started negotiating an amount for his consulting services. He would still basically work for the hospital but it would be on a part-time basis. Clark walked out of the HR department stunned, he was making one hundred and ten thousand dollars now yearly all totaled. He wasn’t sure when fate decided to play with him, but he was willing to take all she was willing to give him. This would help his parents out even more, and to top it off he was going to continue making the same thing that he made now at the hospital. It seemed that the whole department was going to have a major overhaul and that meant salaries too.

“Clark” Dani said smiling at him when he came back from the HR department, seeing that things looked to have gone well.

“Wow”

“I thought you might say that” Dani said before she began asking him about Laurent.

“A friend”

“Well that is one very fine looking friend”

“Sure” Clark said knowing what she was talking about, hell most of the office seemed to think so as well with the exception of the admin.

“If I wasn’t married” Dani joked before she made her way back to her office to finish whatever it was that she had been working on before Clark came back into the office.   By the time Clark logged back in to his computer, he saw he only had about ten minutes before it was time to go, so he instead packed up the few personal items he had brought in a box and then made his way to the time clock to clock out for the day. Clark made his way to his car and saw that Laurent’s car was sitting outside of the hospital without its owner. A grin formed on Clark’s face; oh Laurent would be pissed when he saw a ticket on his car for not parking in the correct location for visitors of the hospital. A police officer of the hospital was standing near his car talking on his cell phone, when Clark made his way over to where the officer stood.

“Excuse me” Clark said a smile on his face as he carried his box of items.

“Can I help you?” The office asked before he noticed that Clark still had his badge on.

“Yeah, I just wanted to let you know that there is a car parked in the fire zone” Clark said before tipping his head to where Laurent’s car sat empty.

“Well” the officer said before eyeing Clark and then making his way to his car and getting out the book to write a ticket for the owner of the car.

“Thank you” the officer said before watching as Clark made his way back down the hill to the parking garage so that he could leave. Clark laughed all the way to his car and once inside the car he made sure to drive by to see if Laurent had arrived back to car to see the ticket.

“What the hell?!” Clark heard Laurent shout as he made his way back to his car with sunglasses on and looking very much like he just rolled out of a magazine ad.

“Classic” Clark said watching as Laurent read the ticket and began to fume over what it said. Clark’s car pulled away from the stop sign and passed Laurent and his car before he arrived to the traffic light at the entrance of the hospital. By the time that Clark got home he saw that his answering machine had ten messages. Clark placed his box on the ground and pressed the play button on the machine and then listened to Laurent who seemed to have called all ten times.

“When will he get the clue?” Clark asked while shaking his head, Laurent was acting as if being without Clark was a major problem for the other man. Clark knew that Laurent wouldn’t leave him alone until his model agency would supply him with another job, so Clark really hoped that the man would have another assignment and soon and very, very far away from him. He didn’t need to be fighting with the other man at his new job; _Julian_ Magazine didn’t seem like the kind of place that would take to kindly to relationship issues at the workplace. When Clark saw that there were ten messages on his phone, he knew he had to do something about Laurent; things were becoming out of hand that was for sure.

“Mom, she’ll know what to do” Clark said deleting all the messages and then calling his mother. She always seemed to know what to do when Clark was having relationship troubles, which wasn’t often as he had been dating Laurent for two years and before that he had pretty much kept to himself since he had been in his last year of college. Even during college he limited his going out because of his major, it didn’t look good when you began to sing songs in different languages because you were drunk out of your mind.

“Kent Farms, Martha speaking” Martha answered on the second ring after Clark had dialed the farm’s phone number.

“Hey mom” Clark said a bit excited to be telling her that he would be bringing home even more money for the farm. His father had loved the whole idea of them selling at the Metropolis Farmer’s Market, it was a much larger market than Smallville but with the limited funds they had getting to and from the large city from Smallville didn’t make it worth their while.

“So how are things?” She asked knowing that Clark was having Laurent troubles still, the other man just didn’t know when to stop. He never had and she figured he never would.

“Fine, Laurent came to work and ‘talk’ to me”

“Clark” Martha said before sighing, it was one of her disappointments that her son had been taught to be as meek and submissive as he was. Most of that came from spending too much time with them on the farm, and watching as his father laid down the law and she just nodding her head to everything he said. It was the same for Clark, her husband would lay down the law and Clark had better follow them or else.

“I know mom, but when I was leaving today I made him get a ticket for parking in the wrong area”

“Good one” Martha said laughing before asking on the reason for Clark to be calling.

“Well my director at work wanted to keep me there”

“Oh! That’s great Clark!” Martha gushed; things were actually going well for her son for once in his life.

“Well they couldn’t meet what _Julian_ Magazine was offering but they offered for me to stay on part-time and do some consulting work”

“Wow! Just wow!” Martha said before plunking herself in a nearby chair. Her baby was all grown up and bringing in a lot of money doing something he loved. Jonathan Kent had been livid when he found out that Clark’s major was foreign Language/Linguistics and nothing business as he had decided for his son, not though Jonathan could say nothing bad about Clark and his choice of work since it seemed to be bringing in enough that he could send money back home to them to help out with the bills that came with owning a farm.

“So how much are you making doing the consulting work? Is it by the job or something?”

“What I make now for any type of translations that are needed”

“You have to be kidding me!” Martha shouted which brought her husband into the house worried that something bad was going on inside the house.

“No”

“That’s….that’s one hundred and ten thousand dollars you are making” Martha said before she heard her husband sitting in a chair near her.

“Yeah, so more money for you guys” Clark said before laughing, he knew both of his parents were in shock, hell he was in shock but it made him feel great. He was doing what he loved and getting paid very good money doing so.

“Oh Clark” Martha said not wanting her son to be spending all of his money on the farm.

“It’s alright mom” Clark said not wanting to fight with his parents about the money that he was sending home, he knew that most men and women his age did nothing that he did for his parents but they had always been there for him and he was going to help out the best way he knew how and that was through sending money home.

“Clark, just don’t worry about us all the time” Martha said before she ended that thought with a question about when he would be starting his new job.

“Two weeks from today, actually” Clark said realizing that it was Monday, jeez he had another two weeks before starting his new job.

“Well I won’t keep you” Martha said when it was clear that Clark didn’t have much else to say to her.

“Okay, I’ll talk to you later” Clark said before saying goodbye to his mom and dad before making his way to the kitchen to find something to eat. He had totally forgotten to eat since he had been shaking his head at all of the messages that Laurent had left for him. While Clark made himself dinner, which was plenty of bacon sandwiches with a side of toast the phone rang.

“Hello” Clark answered the phone while flipping over the latest batch of bacon in the frying pan.

“Clark” Laurent said his voice clearly telling Clark that he was happy about something.

“What” Clark said before fighting with the stove since there seemed to be some smoke coming from the pan.

“I have an assignment!” Laurent gushed before going on to where, when and for how long; almost like Clark should care.

“And you’re telling me this, why?” Clark asked as he turned off the burner to the stove and then pulling out the bread, mayo, lettuce and other items he used to put on his bacon sandwiches.

“Well…” Laurent said clearly confused on Clark’s reaction, he was still pretty sure that they were together and it would only be a matter of time before Clark realized that.

“We aren’t together Laurent so you don’t have to keep me up to speed on your next job” Clark said before snorting, there had been a few jobs that Laurent had conveniently forgotten to tell him about due to who was there and the thought that Laurent may be bedding them.

“Clark” Laurent said before sighing, he had wanted to at least be semi-okay with Clark before he left for France for about two months but it seemed that Clark was going to be difficult about this.

“Have fun” Clark said before hanging up the phone and digging into his meal, he was quite hungry now that his dinner was ready for him. For the next two weeks, Clark went to work did his job and came home to an empty apartment and at least one message from Laurent; who was in France now, to just check in. Clark thought it was the stupidest thing ever, Laurent hadn’t bothered to do that before but now with Clark out of his life he wanted to be the perfect boyfriend, well it was too late in Clark’s book but he knew that Laurent would try until he wore him down.  



	5. Two Weeks Later and Lex Who?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Clark starts his new job while figuring out who Lex Luthor is and what black dress is he talking about.

Monday morning two weeks later had Clark making his way into the _Julian_ Magazine building nervous. He saw the looks that he was getting from most of the employees as he made his way to the New Hire Orientation, as the signs stated. Clark arrived to a large conference room that had about ten chairs set out at a few tables.

“Hello” a girl with short brown hair said a smile on her face before she saw what Clark had on.

“Hi” Clark said looking at the sheet of paper that listed the names of the new hires on it.

“Clark Kent” the girl said before she gave him a packet that had some items that no one else had.

“What’s this?”

“Your director gave this to us” the girl explained before Clark made his way over to an empty table and chairs and then looking over the stuff he had been given. Clark soon was deep in the New Hire Orientation and was so busy that when the end of the day came, Clark was glad to see it. He now had a employee badge that would let him into the building at any time and he also had a map that told him where things were located. Clark wasn’t too worried about things that were on floors that he wouldn’t be located on so he stuffed the map into the bag that the HR department supplied to all the new hires in his orientation.

“That was fun” Clark mumbled to himself as he made his way to his car so that he could make his way home. He no longer needed to clock in or out for what he was grateful, he always hated trying to figure on when he could and couldn’t clock in at the beginning and end of the day. The next morning after Clark fought with his hair for a bit, it was after all getting a big longer than he liked and was dressed for work; Clark made his way to the _Julian_ Magazine building where it seemed even at the early hour that he had arrived that there were still perfect people milling about the building. Clark made a bee line over to the elevators before he heard the bing of the elevator, good thing it was going down since most if not all of the people that had come up to the elevator while he waited were going up. Clark would have loved for the bald guy from before to come striding over and Clark pushing him out of the way and telling him that the elevator was going down.

“There you are!” Chloe Sullivan said in greeting to Clark, she had been a bit afraid that Clark wouldn’t return when he went through the long and boring as all get out New Hire Orientation but it seemed he had endured and now he was here.

“Hi” Clark said before smiling at Chloe and then began listening to her as she rattled off things that he needed to know about the department.

“Okay, here” Clark said before passing over a cell phone to Clark.

“Uh, I don’t do cell phones” Clark said, not really wanting to explain the reason on why he didn’t do cell phones. His cousin hated the fact that she *had* to call his home number when she wanted to get in touch with him.

“Well this is business related” Chloe said pressing the phone into Clark’s hand. She had noticed that Clark had no cell phone number and so she had gone to the HR department and demanded that they get him one for emergencies. They of course had jerked her around for a good bit before she stated that if they thought that not having a way to communicate to this particular translator was a good idea then they could tell Mr. Luthor is something went wrong. They had scrambled then and gotten Clark a cell phone and only the HR department along with Chloe had the number.

“But”

“No one but me and HR have the number, just in case” Chloe said before she pulled her empty hand back and then turned and showed Clark to his cube and the jazzy computer that sat inside.

“It has a door”

“It does” Chloe said before she started in on how all of the workers down here needed their own spaces and that this cubes allowed for that sort of thing.

“Wow” Clark said before taking a seat in the chair that sat at the desk and then looking around. He was really here!

“Well, I’ll leave you to get settled in for a bit and then I will show you around to the rest of the department” Chloe said before making her way back to her office to make sure that she had everything in order so that Clark could get started right away on his translating of the latest edition of _Julian_ into Arabic. Clark soon got into the swing of things _Julian_ and he was soon coming and going from the building almost as if he belonged. The rest of the building, besides his own department, seemed to think he was a bit below them but he didn’t care. He was getting a nice paycheck and he wasn’t too concerned over what the others thought. They weren’t paying his bills that was for sure, he was still receiving his daily call from Laurent and he was beginning to sort of think that maybe he would give the other man a chance. That had been right up until Laurent had called one night drunk as a skunk and was going on about how many men he had fucked while in Paris, that had put to bed any thoughts that Clark was having about giving the other man another chance. It was a Thursday morning, two weeks later that Clark’s cell phone began to ring, while he was away from his desk making copies of some forms that Chloe had given to him that needed to be completed. When Clark returned back to his cube he saw that his cell phone that he always left on the desk when at work was blinking indicating that there was message. He was a bit confused on who could be calling him on the cell phone since the only people who had the number were Chloe and HR, but Clark opened the phone to check just in case. A number that Clark didn’t recognize popped up on the screen, and the phone also stated that the person had left a message. Looking around Clark tried to spy Chloe to ask her what was going on but he was unable to find her, so Clark called the voicemail number and waited for the woman to guide him to his message.

“I expect that black dress that I saw the other day to be in my office when I arrive tomorrow morning” the message said before the message ended because the caller hung up the phone. Clark was a bit confused on what was going on, he didn’t know anything about a black dress that the caller had seen the other day. Hell he wasn’t even fashion forward, so he was pretty certain that the caller had gotten the wrong number.

“Clark” Chloe said a bit later when she arrived back from some meeting she had been at.

“Uh Chloe” Clark said before be explained the message and watched as Chloe paled.

“That was Mr. Luthor”

“Who?” Here Chloe could only gape; Clark didn’t know who Lex Luthor was!

“Lex Luthor, the man behind LexCorp and _Julian_ Magazine”

“Oh” Clark said now really confused on why the man was calling his phone talking about a black dress. Was it some sort of test?

“I don’t know what to tell you Clark” Chloe said, she didn’t need one of her translators doing the work of the assistants that Lex paid way too much to have but she also knew that if it didn’t happen someone’s head would roll and the people at HR would make sure it was her’s.

“Well it shouldn’t be too hard to do right?” Clark said deciding that hey, he could do this, this one time and then that would give Chloe time to clear up anything that may have been not communicated over in HR about the cell phone number.

“I hope not” Chloe said before she was shooing Clark out of the department and to the eight floor where the penderie was located that should hold the dress that Lex Luthor was talking about. Clark arrived to the eighth floor a bit scared that he wouldn’t come out alive, there were tons of people on the floor running to and from large racks of clothing.

“What” a woman with a thick brown hair said looking at Clark and then sneering at his outfit. ‘A pocket protector from the basement’ the woman thought while she watched as Clark shifted on his feet, uncertain on how to ask about the dress without getting eaten alive.

“I’m looking for a black dress” this had the woman stopping and then staring at Clark.

“For you?”

“Uh, no” Clark said blushing bright red, he was *not* a cross-dresser even if Laurent had tried on occasion to get him to go out as a girl.

“Well” the woman said clearly not having the time to deal with Clark and his bashfulness.

“Mr. Luthor” at those words most of the people on the floor stopped what they were doing and stood to listen to Clark finish speaking. It wouldn’t do for Mr. Lex Luthor to arrive to the penderie and see what a mess it was. The man was OCD when it came to the penderie and the organization that was required of the floor.

“Yes”

“Uh wants to see the black dress he saw the other day in his office” Clark said figuring that he could pawn off the request to these capable people and then back to his hole in the basement.

“Black dress?” the woman said turning and then looking at the faces that stood around and seeing that none of them would be a help.

“Here” the woman said before showing Clark a computer and telling him how to use the large database that was housed on it, to find the dress that Mr. Luthor was speaking of. ‘Junior Assistant, then’ the woman thought before going back to what she was doing. She figured if the man failed that was fine by her since then she could say that she hadn’t part of the search process, it would probably get her in some hot water but it would keep her a job. Two hours later had Clark staring at a computer monitor with a total of 56 black dresses that had come out in the last year.

“It’s a black dress” Clark said before scrolling through the list again and groaning, it was just too hard for him to figure out.

“Maybe if I narrow the search again” Clark said before typing in a shorter date range and only coming back with one ten results. Clark looked at each one and tried to picture if he had seen the dress in one of the magazines that his cousin and Lana left at his apartment when they were trying to give him hints on what they wanted for a birthday or Christmas.

“I think that” Clark said looking at the screen and trying to see if he could see his cousin or Lana in the dress. The dress was an understated dress, with spaghetti straps that were removal-able and a ruffle at the bottom of skirt. Clark thought that it looked like a great black dress, and could only hope that it was the one that Mr. Luthor was talking about in his message, he was tempted to call the man and ask him what he was talking about but with the look that Chloe gave him and decided that might not be the best of ideas.

“So” the woman from earlier said coming over to see that Clark had a dress pulled up that no one on the whole floor liked.

“You have that dress” Clark said pointing to the screen.

“We do” she said slowly, she wasn’t really sure on what to do. Should she help him or not? She decided on not since she didn’t have the time that it would require to explain to him that the dress he picked out was not a dress that she could see Mr. Luthor asking about. It was from one of those cutesy shops in downtown Metropolis, a place that she couldn’t see Mr. Luthor stepping into if you paid him to do so.

“Can I get that along with a manikin?” Clark asked before the woman was waving over someone else to help him out. By the time that Clark had gotten the manikin and the dress, pretty much the whole building had left for day. Clark was soon in Mr. Luthor’s office after a quick ride up the elevator to the twentieth floor with manikin and dress all packed on a cart. Clark fought for a good twenty minutes before he figured out how to get the manikin to stand by its self and then fought to put the dress on said manikin while not blushing as he touched it in the most inappropriate places. Once the dress was on the manikin, Clark decided to leave a note that told Mr. Luthor that he had the wrong number and that he was not the ‘Junior Assistant’ or whatever it was that he thought he was. Unfortunately Clark began to worry that his note might not be the greatest idea and instead left a note that basically said, ‘here’s the dress you requested’ and that was it. No need to sign his name just in case the man came looking for him. Clark arrived home worried that the dress wasn’t the correct one, but then forgot all about it when he heard the standard message that Laurent left on his answering machine. ‘When was he going to get the clue?’ Clark thought again before he made himself something eat and then playing his video games trying hard not to think about the dress that was now on the manikin in Lex Luthor’s office at _Julian_. The next morning had Clark biting his finger nails as he made his way to his desk in the basement, hoping that he still had a job.

“Clark” Chloe said stunned that Clark had made it to the basement before one of the vultures of HR or Lex’s assistant swooped him up.

“Chloe” Clark greeted the blonde before giving her a funny look. Had something gone on while he was gone?

“You’re here”

“I am” Clark said now a bit worried and confused on what was going on.

“Kitty Kowalski, Mr. Luthor’s assistant is looking for you”

“Uh” Clark said not really knowing what to say, he didn’t think that he had done that bad of a job picking out a dress but then again his cousin and Lana had commented enough to the fact that he had no fashion skills at all.

“Go, go” Chloe said before she got a gleam in her eyes, she was *not* going to give up her translator because Clark had taken the time to figure out what the hell Lex Luthor was talking about when he left his message yesterday. Clark gave Chloe a look before making his way to his cube and then getting on his computer so that he could finish the article he had been working on before he had gotten the message and paper work from Chloe and Lex. By lunch time Clark was glad to be stepping away from his desk, so he totally forgot all about the cell phone that sat on his desk; that was now ringing while the rest of the office watched the thing go off. They were *not* going to answer that, they had seen Clark leave and not come back for the rest of the day so they weren’t going to be the one to tell whoever it was that Clark wasn’t there and to leave a message. Clark arrived back from lunch to see that the cell phone was blinking yet again.

“What now” Clark said knowing that it was Lex Luthor leaving another message.

“Carlos…Carl, I am a bit disappointed that you do not answer your phone when I call. We shall have to speak about that when I arrive back to the office on Monday. Also I want to see the Wang dresses in my office when I arrive” Lex Luthor said before hanging up the phone.

“WTF?” Clark said before shaking his head, he was not going to go back to the eighth floor and to those, those vultures that ran the penderie.

“Clark” Chloe said a bit concerned when she saw the cell phone pressed to his ear. It seemed that there was now another person that knew the number to the cell phone and was now using it and Clark as if they were his personal assistant.

“Mr. Luthor called again”

“I figured as much” Chloe said grim, she would have to make a trip up to HR to see what in the hell was going on. A screw up like this would be getting someone fired, maybe she should have told Clark to not even worry about it since that would alert the HR people that they had screwed up.

“Something about Wang dresses, what are those?” Clark asked before Chloe was sighing, Clark was just too Boy Scouty for his own good. Even now, he was trying to fulfill Lex Luthor’s needs and he didn’t even have the job of being ‘Junior Assistant’ as the person that was no doubt sitting up on the 20th floor did.

“It’s a person, not a dress”

“Oh” Clark said before blushing, he should have known that since Kara and Lana went on about fashion makers and what they had out.

“Don’t worry about it” Chloe said this time, she couldn’t afford for Clark to be up in the penderie every time that Lex Luthor called about something. She would have to get this straighten out, but she could tell that it wouldn’t be today, no she could pretty much see that Clark was going to follow through on this request as well.

“To the penderie?” Chloe asked before she saw Clark nod his head.

“Just don’t stay too late” Chloe warned before Clark made his way back up to the 8th floor to where the penderie was housed.

“Back again I see” the woman from yesterday said as she saw Clark make his way back onto the floor.

“Yeah” Clark said before going over to the computer and typing in the word ‘Wang’ and seeing what sort of results he got.

“Wedding dresses?” Clark said stunned that Lex Luthor was worried about wedding dresses, it was no wonder that he didn’t know that Wang was a who and not a what. Kara and Lana were firmly in the life of single women, and the only time that they spoke about weddings and marriage was when a star was getting married.

“But which ones” Clark mumbled before he was narrowing down the search by date and color, hoping he was going to get the right dresses. As Clark searched through the sea of wedding dresses his mind went back to the message, this time Lex Luthor had left some name, or at least Clark thought it was the name of the person he was calling. Clark was neither a Carlos nor a Carl, so he was a bit uncertain on what was really going on.

“Wedding dresses” the woman from earlier said surprised that Mr. Luthor was already working on the Wedding Edition of _Julian_ that was due out at a minimum of six months from now.

“Yeah” Clark said before he continued to look at page after page of wedding dresses in every shade of white and cream that there was. Clark had to say that he was particularly fond of the dresses that didn’t come in the standard wedding white or cream, there was one dress that was in purple that Clark just thought would be perfect to include in the small collection he was putting together for Mr. Luthor.

“Need any help” the woman asked now a bit worried that maybe Mr. Luthor was sending him down to see how well the people on the floor worked with others not from the floor.

“Uh, no I think I’m good” Clark said before writing down another sequence number that the system had for each and every item in the penderie.

“If you need anything” the woman said before eyeing Clark and then leaving to go off in search of someone so that she could figure out what the hell was going on. It was three hours later that Clark finally had a list of ten wedding dresses made by Vera Wang that he wanted pulled.

“Uh” Clark said to a passing girl that looked like she was about twelve. The girl rolled her eyes before continuing on, Clark stood there for a good ten minutes trying to get someone to help him before he gave up. It couldn’t be that hard to pull the dresses right? I mean they had a number and there must be a system in place, so he figured he could pull the dresses with little to no help. Clark checked one last time before diving into the penderie to find the dresses he had picked out. He was so not doing this again, ever. Clark made his way down the main aisle way, with a cart in front of him; looking at the numbers that were posted at the end of each of the large rack like pieces of furniture.

“Three, oh, eight” Clark said looking down at the paper in his hand and then to the numbers, soon finding the right aisle way and then looking at each dress and the numbered tag that was on it.

“Three, oh, eight; dot two, five” Clark said looking at each tag and then finding the dress in question in between two dresses that Clark hadn’t seen in his search. Clark grabbed the clear garment bag the dress was in and placed it on the cart before going off in search of the next dress. It took Clark a total of two hours to find the ten dresses and he wasn’t sure on how that was possible. There was a numbering system and it should have made perfect sense to put all of the Wang dresses together in the sequence but it seemed someone had other ideas. It seemed, at least to Clark, that there was no rhyme or reason as to where a dress may or may not be in the penderie, you could have a wedding dress right next to some dress that looked like it was for a night on the town.

“There you are!” Met Clark’s ears as he surfaced from the penderie’s racks with the ten dresses that he had chosen to leave in Mr. Luthor’s office.

“You pulled…..you pulled!” The woman who was standing in front of Clark said, she couldn’t believe that he had enough gall to just go in there and start pulling things down.

“Well I asked for help” Clark explained before the woman was glaring at him.

“That is still no reason”

“I asked and no one wanted to help me, so you tell Mr. Luthor the reason why these dresses aren’t in his office come Monday morning” Clark said tired of this woman and her workers treating him like he was a lesser person. That seemed to have slowed the woman down, for she paled and then began to grab the cart that Clark had his selection of dresses on.

“I’m fine” Clark said taking the cart back and then making his way out of the penderie and the 8th floor, he still had to make sure that the dresses were set up with manikins, but Clark had a funny feeling that the woman he had just left would somehow make her way up to Mr. Luthor’s office and ruin everything that he would set up just to spite him, she seemed like that type of person. So it was while Clark rode the elevator down instead of up that he pulled out the cell phone he was beginning to hate and called Chloe.

“Sullivan” Chloe answered on the second ring, which had Clark laughing at the way she answered the phone.

“Chloe, it’s Clark”

“Oh, hello Clark” Chloe said her voice much warmer than it had been before.

“I was wondering if I could sort of hold some things in the office until Monday” Clark said before he heard some noises on the other side of the phone, that made him think that he may have been interrupting something for Chloe.

“That’s fine, are they the Wang dresses?”

“Yeah and the lady from the penderie strikes me as the type of person to go and destroy”

“Oh she is a right bitch” Chloe agreed before telling Clark to do what he needed and that she would get the whole cell phone thing straightened out come Monday morning.

“Have fun” Clark said before laughing and then hanging up the phone, he wasn’t a complete loser that he didn’t know when someone was on a date. Maybe she was with that guy from the marketing department that had taken a liking to her, even he saw that one. It was at that same time that Clark hung up with Chloe that the doors to the elevator opened to the basement level of the building, and Clark was wheeling off the cart towards the very large metal door that looked as if it belonged in a safe. That had been part of the reason on why the translation department was in the basement to begin with, Mr. Luthor was paranoid that _Julian_ would be leaked to the masses if the translation department wasn’t sealed up as if it was Fort Knox, and that was something that Mr. Luthor wasn’t going to allow. So the translation department had been stuck in the basement with all sorts of security measures in place so that no one would be getting anything from the department that shouldn’t be. Clark scanned his badge and then his thumb print and then finally his eye before he was allowed into the office that housed all of the cubes for the translators of the department. Clark still shook his head with the amount of security that their department had, he was always very grateful to Chloe for allowing them only to do the badge scan and thumb print before they began work every day. He didn’t think he would be able to handle doing all three things each and every time he left the floor for something. Clark wheeled the cart over to his cube and then unlocked the doors, he had been amazed on when Chloe handed over a key to the door to the cube but now he was thanking whoever bought these to decide to add locks to the doors.

“There now to get the manikins” Clark said before making his way back up to the 8th floor to get the required manikins, so that come Sunday night he wouldn’t be locked out of the penderie with no way to get manikins. It seemed that Clark was lucky since the woman from before was still there looking very unhappy about Clark’s treatment of her earlier.

“What do you want now?” She grouched out before glaring at Clark as if that would make him go away.

“I’m going to need some manikins” Clark said before the woman thrust a large bin with wheels over to him and then pointed to where many manikins where standing looking like fashion models in their poses.

“Get them yourself” the woman said before she continued to glare at Clark, she shouldn’t have to put up with this, this junior assistant to Mr. Luthor but she knew better than to rock the boat with the assistant. No she would be talking to Mr. Luthor come Monday morning about the boy and then she would see him being escorted out of the building for not bowing to her as he should have been doing. ‘Who did he think he was, walking into the penderie stacks and acting as if he owned the place?’ The woman thought to herself as she watch Clark load up the bin with manikins.

“Okay” Clark said before grabbing some manikins in poses that he could deal with and putting them in the large bin he had before getting enough for the dresses he had picked out. Once done Clark made his way back down to his cube to put the manikins in there was well. When he arrived back down there he noticed that the manikins weren’t going to fit with their bin in his cube along with the dresses. Clark figured that the manikins could hang out, outside his cube while the dresses would be locked up in his cube. By the time that Clark got home he was so exhausted that he fell right asleep even in his work clothes. For the rest of the weekend Clark worried about if the dresses he picked out where okay and if they weren’t if he would have a job come Monday afternoon. Sunday night had Clark making his way back to the _Julian_ building and to his desk to set up the dresses for Mr. Luthor for Monday morning, since Clark was pretty sure that Mr. Luthor wanted to see the dresses the moment he stepped foot into his office. Clark of course jumped through the hoops to get to his desk and then unlocked the door and took the manikins in their bins and the dresses on their cart up to the 20 th floor, he could only hope that the floor wasn’t locked down like his was. It seemed that once he arrived to the floor the elevator requested that he scan his badge which he did and received no problems afterwards to being let onto the floor. This worried Clark, what had HR done to him? Clark was soon setting up the ten manikins with their various poses and then placing each wedding dress on the manikin and then looking at the line up and seeing if one would need to be moved or not. Once Clark completed the task he took both the cart and the bin and made his way back to his desk. He didn’t think the crazy lady from the penderie would be able to get on the floor, and it was nearing the ten o’clock hour anyway so he didn’t think she would be coming in now. That night Clark dreamed of wedding dresses and Mr. Luthor screaming at him about getting the wrong dress, now Clark had never met Mr. Lex Luthor but he figured the man was scary and not someone to cross so his mind played with him while he slept. He didn’t know that in just a couple of days he would be meeting the man himself. Clark woke the next morning without his alarm waking him up; he wanted to be to work as early as possible to see if he would be able to hide out in his cube waiting for the doom call from HR.

“Clark” Chloe said greeting him at the local thumb scan that sat at the entrance of the department.

“Hey Chloe” Clark said before shuffling his way over to his cube to see the cart and bin still sitting there.

“I need….” Clark said pointing to the cart and bin that sat outside his cube.

“Go ahead” Chloe said waving him away, she had some calls to make anyway and they should probably be done with Clark away from his desk.

“Thanks” Clark said before jogging and grabbing the cart and bin and then making his way to the 8th floor where the penderie was with the fire breathing dragon that ran the place. Clark arrived to the floor and had the cart and bin snatched from his hands.

“Go” the woman said before pushing Clark back on the elevator, she had waited until Clark left on Friday to go up to the 20th floor to see what the *boy* had done only to be not allowed entry, which meant she couldn’t see what he had picked out and if it was even set up. Clark stood back on the elevator stunned, seemed someone wasn’t in a good humor and Clark had learned early on that, that could always be a very bad thing when dealing with Mr. Luthor and _Julian_ Magazine.

“That was quick” One of Clark’s co-workers said as he arrived back to the floor.

“The dragon didn’t want me back on the floor” Clark joked before going over to his cube and unlocking it and then signing into his computer. He never heard Chloe yelling at HR about their screw-up with the cell phones and he never heard Chloe threaten the HR department that if they didn’t fix the issue and fix it today for she was not going to lose her Arabic translator to being a junior assistant to Lex Luthor’s assistant Kitty Kowalski, the woman got away with too much as it was. Hence why they needed a freaking junior assistant in the first place, but Chloe wasn’t about to piss off one of Kitty’s friends in HR that was for sure. Instead she made it clear that *her* employee Clark Kent was not the junior assistant that Kitty hired, he was an *Arabic translator*. For the rest of the morning Chloe was on the phone fighting with HR about the mix-up and Clark sat at his cube translating forgetting for the moment about the wedding dresses sitting up on the 20th floor.

“Can you give me your phone” Chloe said by way of greeting Clark in his cube, she had gotten tired of fighting with HR about the mix-up so she was going to do what she should have done in the first place and that was fight with Kitty Kowalski about it. The phone was going to go into her hands and Chloe was then going to go out and get Clark his own damn phone on her own. How could HR be so helpless and stupid?

“Here” Clark said before looking up and seeing Chloe with her battle face on, he had seen it once before and it was when she had gone to a meeting with Mr. Luthor. The meeting had gone well, but Clark knew better than to question the blonde when that face was on.

“I’ll be back” Chloe said marching out of the department office in her stiletto heels and business suit, she was the only one in the department that was fashion forward but being a director sort of made you have to. Mr. Lex Luthor did not take kindly to poorly dressed people in his presence, and so she had to revamp her whole wardrobe. The ride to the 20th floor was quick since it seemed that the elevator could tell that Chloe was in a hurry and not happy.

“Can I help you?” Kitty Kowalski said, her mocha color skin set off by the green eye shadow that coordinated with her outfit for the day.

“Here” Chloe said passing over the cell phone to Kitty, glaring at the woman.

“A cell phone” Kitty said looking at the phone and then at Chloe.

“You seemed to have mix-up the HR department about your junior assistant” Chloe explained gritting her teeth; she was really trying to not scream at the woman.

“Excuse me” Kitty said clearly confused on what Chloe was talking about.

“Your junior assistant” Chloe said hoping the woman would supply her with a name so that she could then bitch the HR department with a bit more information.

“Yes, Clay Montrose” Kitty supplied to Chloe which made the woman grin, oh now she had a name!

“Well for some reason it seems that my employee has been deemed *your* junior assistant”

“But Clay won’t be starting for another week” Kitty said now clacking away on her computer and looking through stacks of papers. This was why she needed help, it seemed that Lex Luthor was becoming even more demanding as _Julian_ became more popular and it was something that she just couldn’t handle.

“Well it seems that Mr. Luthor didn’t get that memo” Chloe said before she could hear the man in question speaking in his office, probably to himself since she hadn’t seen anyone in there when she arrived.

“Not a choice I would have picked right off, but excellent” Chloe heard Mr. Luthor mutter before he continued on speaking.

“Purple, odd but good”

“And this one…..pure genius” Lex Luthor said before he was buzzing for Kitty.

“Mr. Luthor” Kitty said totally and completely at the end of her rope, she hadn’t realized that HR had screwed-up and royally until Chloe came stomping in. It seemed that Mr. Luthor had been given another employees cell phone number thinking that he was to be the junior assistant and it seemed the guy was good enough to help them until Chloe decided enough was enough.

“Set up a meeting with Casey, Carlton…whatever this new junior assistant’s name is for tomorrow”

“Yes sir” Kitty said before she noticed Chloe glaring at her.

“Oh no you don’t”

“You want to tell Mr. Luthor that?” Kitty said knowing she had Chloe backed into a corner, maybe if they were lucky they could steal the guy away and then she would be able to go back to being able to actually get work done. Chloe gritted her teeth; there was nothing she could do, so instead she stomped off the floor making sure to leave the cell phone at Kitty’s desk. The woman could answer the phone the next time that Mr. Luthor decided to call and request something of Clark. Hell he couldn’t even figure out what his name was, had they gone through that many assistants up there? Chloe arrived back to the department to see that Clark was on the phone, well wasn’t Kitty moving fast?

“Hello” Clark answered the phone, he was so glad to not have to answer it the way he did at the hospital, although now that he was thinking about it, it might be a good idea just in case to say something about _Julian_ and this being the translation department just in case. You never knew when the owner, CEO or some other muckity muck would call to see if things were going as stated in the rules and regulations they had been given when they began.

"Mr. Kent" Clark heard with a bit of shuffling of papers on the other end of the phone.

"Yes" Clark said not really sure who it was that was calling him at work no less.

"This is Kitty Kowalski, and I am Mr. Luthor's assistant" here Clark jumped, before looking around for Chloe. He had thought she had gotten the whole cell phone mix-up cleared up and he wasn’t certain on if the woman was calling him about the dresses in Mr. Luthor’s office.

"Oh, hello" Clark said trying to sound like it wasn't a huge surprise that Mr. Luthor's assistant was calling him.

“Mr. Luthor would like to set up a time to meet with you" the woman said over the phone before she was rustling papers again.

"Uh" Clark said not really sure on what to say to the woman.

"He has a ten, thirty tomorrow morning; would that work?"

"Sure" Clark said figuring that if he didn't agree to the appointment that it would be weeks before he saw the man and that meant weeks of worrying something that Clark didn't like to do.

"Excellent" the woman said before hanging up the phone.

"I hope she's a bit nicer to other people" Clark said to the dead phone, it was then that Chloe made her way over to Clark's desk to see how he was doing.

"Clark"

"Hi Chloe" Clark said before giving her a worried look.

"What?" Chloe said instantly worried that something had gone wrong and Clark was still receiving calls from Lex Luthor but on the LAN line instead, since she had given the cell phone to Kitty just a bit ago.

"Mr. Luthor's assistant called"

"Oh" Chloe said surprised that the woman had called Clark so quickly; then again Clark had yet to meet with Mr. Luthor since starting so maybe she was calling about that. Chloe could hope couldn’t she?

"She set up an appointment with me and Mr. Luthor; tomorrow at ten-thirty" Clark said worried, he so didn't want to go to the meeting but he knew better than to even try and get out of it. Maybe it would be something simple, like a meet and greet that the HR department said you had with the man.

"Doesn't sound painful" Chloe joked knowing that Clark would worry until the meeting tomorrow about the purpose behind it, which she hoped was just the standard meet and greet Mr. Luthor did with all new employees and not the meeting for Mr. Luthor to meet Clark as the latest junior assistant. Clark nodded his head at Chloe's words and then set back to work on his translation of one of the final articles for the latest edition of _Julian_ Magazine in Arabic. For the rest of the day Clark tried to keep himself busy, that way he wouldn't think about the upcoming meeting with Lex Luthor. He had a funny feeling that this meeting wasn't going to be as painless as Chloe had joked about it being.


	6. One Meeting you don't want to miss......

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Clark finally meets Lex Luthor and has a meltdown.

     The next morning had Clark picking out an outfit that he hoped would pass inspection from Mr. Lex Luthor, owner and editor of _Julian_ Magazine but he knew it was a futile endeavor since all of his clothing had been said to be either Goodwill finds or farm wear, both that were true. His parents at the time hadn't had a lot of money to spend on getting him clothes to wear while he was in high school, and since it was generally hard to find clothing his size when he had moved to Metropolis for college the clothes had come with him, and they now resided in his closet. Clark picked out the most formal shirt and pants he could before getting ready for the day, knowing beyond a shadow of a doubt that something bad was going to happen in the meeting. He could just feel it, he didn't know how and why but he knew. Once Clark arrived to work he hid out in his cube as much as possible, hoping that Mr. Luthor's assistant would call and cancel the appointment, it was not to be since at 10:28 Clark started to make his way to the elevators that would take him up to the 20th floor, a place he wanted to avoid as much as possible at the present moment in time.

Bing! The elevator sounded as Clark arrived to the 20th floor, which was all sleek furniture that looked to be from some catalogue that was from Europe. Clark had seen the furniture before since he had been up there a few times already, but that had been when no one was there now there sat a woman with long flowing black hair, mocha colored skin and a pair of glasses that looked to be more for show than for actual work; at a glass desk with the standard white Apple computer sitting on the desk.

“Can I help you?” The woman asked looking up from her computer and gaping at the Greek God dressed in the worst outfit she had seen on a man ever.

“Uh, I’m Clark Kent” Clark said standing in front of the desk where Kitty still sat gaping at Clark.

“You’re Clark Kent?”

“Uh, yes” Clark said uncertain on what was going on, he was on time right? Clark thought as he looked at his watch to see that it said it was 10:30 on the dot now.

“Uh, let me let Mr. Luthor know you are here” Kitty said before putting on a headset and pushing a button on the phone that looked to be a piece of artwork.

“Mr. Luthor your ten-thirty is here” Kitty said, she knew if she said the man’s name to Mr. Luthor that it would be no good. The man was horrible with names it seemed, at least when it came to the staff that worked closely with him. She herself had been Harley to Harriet before Mr. Luthor decided to keep her and suddenly her name became Kitty, as she was named.

“Send them in” Kitty heard through the headset and then she set Clark to make his way into Mr. Luthor’s office. The man was going to eat the boy man alive, he looked like a Greek God but had the fashion style of a homeless person, but then again she had seen homeless people look better than that.

“Casey” Lex Luthor greeted Clark sticking out a hand with an easy grin on his face.

“It’s Clark” Clark corrected before sticking out his hand and shaking the man’s hand, he looked very familiar; Clark just couldn’t place where he had seen the man before.

“Have a seat” Lex Luthor said before taking a seat himself and it was then that Clark figured out where he had seen the man before. It was the jerk from the elevator! ‘Full my ass’ Clark thought trying hard to bite his tongue on saying something to the man about his elevator usage and the longer that Clark looked at the man he realized that he had seen him at the restaurant when he had gone with Laurent. This is who Laurent had been drooling over at the restaurant!

“You jerk!” Clark blurted out before blushing, he soooo hadn’t meant to say that it was just with the thoughts running through his head he couldn’t help it.

“Excuse me” Lex Luthor said his face taking on that of cool business professional. Clark couldn’t help himself then, it was as if once the words came out that there was no stopping them.

“You pushed me off an elevator, ‘it’s full’ full my behind!” Clark said before he stood up and began to sort of pace the room, all the while Lex Luthor watched on a bit amused. No one had called him on his pushing out of people on an elevator but it seemed that his newest junior assistant had and looked as if he wasn’t going to stop there. He could sort of remember the day that Clark was talking about; he had seen the guy and had decided then and there to take the elevator so that he wouldn’t be next to him on his ride to wherever it was he was going.

“And then…then you start ogling by ex-boyfriend at a restaurant” Lex Luthor smirked at that, he remembered that night when he had seen model Laurent Denalla sitting with some guy that looked as if he was a charity case and now that he was thinking about it, it was the same guy from the elevator episode which was now standing in front of him ranting at him, as if he wasn’t Lex Luthor and the owner and editor of _Julian_ Magazine and LexCorp CEO.

“Ex-boyfriend” this surprised Lex, he hadn’t thought that a guy like this would be going out with males; no he looked as if he was homegrown from a farm and bred to love breasts.

“Laurent Denalla” Clark stated before glaring at Mr. Luthor, not at all happy with the man.

“Ah, yes” Lex Luthor said with a smirk on his face, he was thoroughly enjoying this tete-a-tete with his latest junior assistant. Most of them were too busy ogling him and his genius to get anything he said done but this one, oh this one was a keeper.

“As if the three super models you had with you weren’t enough” Clark continued to rant as if not even noticing that Mr. Luthor was still in the room with him.

“Hmmm” Mr. Luthor said thoroughly amused now, oh he would keep this one. Not only did he have the body and face of a Greek God but he also seemed to be not afraid of him, which was always a very good thing. Kitty was still learning to take a stand on things, and he didn’t need someone know-towing to him at this moment in time. Hell the guy could even manage to do the job that he requested of him, even though he dressed as if he picked his clothing out of a garbage can.

“Caleb” Mr. Luthor started to say before he was cut off by Clark.

“My name is Clark”

“Yes well” Mr. Luthor said before he began speaking as if Clark hadn’t corrected.

“I wanted to take the time to meet with you and let you know that you are doing an amazing job” Clark could only gape at the man, was he serious about this?

“Thank you” Clark said stunned, Lex Luthor was actually complementing him on his job; now to just figure out which one that was.

“I must say I was a bit surprised by some of the choices that you pulled for the Wang line” Clark’s face fell at this, this was about the stupid wedding dresses that he had pulled and put up and not his job as translator?

“I thought the purple was pretty genius” Mr. Luthor said figuring that Clark would preen under his words instead it seemed that the younger man curled in on himself.

“I liked it” Clark said, this was not what he wanted to be doing right now. Maybe staying at the hospital was for the best, because Clark had the sinking feeling that the cell phone he had given Chloe would pop up at his desk now and there was nothing he could to fight about it.

“Is there a problem” Mr. Luthor said noticing that something was wrong with Clark.

“No”

“Cal”

“It’s Clark” Clark said before shaking his head, was it like a test? Try and see if the person Mr. Luthor was dealing with would punch him if he couldn’t figure out your name?

“Yes, whatever” Mr. Luthor said before waving his hand, it seemed this move alerted Kitty to something for she was soon clicking into the room on her stilettos.

“Mr. Luthor”

“Nothing, nothing” Mr. Luthor said before shooing Kitty out of the room, she eyed Clark for a moment before going to her desk and making a call to HR. That was the longest *ANY*one had ever been in Mr. Luthor’s office with the man present.

“Are you sure there is no problem?”

“Yes” Clark said knowing that even bringing up the fact that he worked in another department was moot at this point. The man saw him as the junior assistant and that was what he was going to become, goodbye Arabic translating!

“I’m meeting with Badgley Mischka tomorrow” Lex Luthor said looking at Clark, he was pretty sure that him being there would be a good thing. He had a fresh set of eyes, something that he had been looking for in an assistant. Kitty was going good pushing paperwork; she had proven that when he had gifted her the task of finding a dress he had seen, much like he had done with the younger man sitting across from him. Kitty fell flat on her face at the request while this young man seemed to relish the challenge and actually fulfill his request correctly.  Clark looked at Mr. Luthor with a blank look on his face, was he supposed to care about the name he had just thrown out there?

“Their wedding collection is due to be released and I need to see if they have anything worthy for _Julian_ ’s Wedding edition” Lex Luthor explained to Clark, he still got a lost look from the younger man.

“I need you there”

“Oh, well” Clark said now understanding where Mr. Luthor was going with his thoughts.

“Well what?”

“I’m sort of busy”

“Busy?” Mr. Luthor asked stunned, this guy was busy? Doing what? He was *his* junior assistant!

“Yeah, translating” Clark said figuring this was the only way he was going to get out the fact that he was not in fact the junior assistant that Mr. Luthor thought him to be.

“Translating?”

“The magazine into Arabic”

“You’re a translator?” Lex Luthor asked skeptical, guys like this didn’t have jobs like that.

“Yes, Chloe Sullivan is my director. We can call her if you like” Clark said thinking that this would get him out of going to whatever the hell the name of the designer or designers were with this man. He was getting a serious headache being so close to the pompous man.

“You’re the Arabic translator that Ms. Sullivan hired?”

“Yes” Clark said he could see that Mr. Luthor was very unhappy.

“Hmm” Mr. Luthor said before picking up the phone and dialing a number that Clark couldn’t see.

“Ms. Sullivan”

“I’m here with Clayton”

“It’s Clark” Clark corrected automatically, before shutting up at the glare he got.

“The newest addition to your group of translator he says”

“Arabic, he told me”

“No”

“Hmmm”

“No, sorry” Mr. Luthor said ending the conversation he was having with Chloe about him.

“The meeting is at eleven, tomorrow”

“Uh”

“Eleven, tomorrow” Mr. Luthor said before standing and making a show for Clark to leave the office. Clark looked back a couple of times before scuttling his way out of the office and then back down to his cube in the basement.

“Clark!” Chloe shouted once she saw him make his way to his cube, most of the office stopped at the shout. Chloe had been on a rampage since she got off the phone only minutes before.

“Mr. Luthor….” Clark didn’t even know what to say, there was nothing he could say. Hell he had almost cursed at the man, and yet here he was back at his desk and still with a job.

“I spoke with him” Chloe said before grimacing, oh yeah she talked to the man alright and he had basically told her in very few words, as was his way, that Clark was his not hers.

“I have a feeling I won’t be doing this anymore” Clark said waving a hand over his desk and the stack of articles that were waiting for his translating.

“Pretty much”

“But”

“There’s only one way out of this Clark and that is to quit _Julian_ , which I don’t think you want to do”

“No, not really”

“Well then, I guess we make a game plan of how to get your doing that job and this one. I can’t lose you”

“Uh” Clark was speechless, he didn’t think that Chloe would fight for him; but then again she didn’t strike him as the type of person to just let something go because someone else said to.

“I’ll get this taken care of, you do that and then I might have to have a chat with Mr. Luthor myself” Chloe said setting her jaw and then stomping into her office to do battle with HR about Clark.

“Clark can you come here” Chloe called from her office a few hours later, which had Clark trying to translate something but failing. The thought of being with Lex Luthor for an unknown amount of time tomorrow was making him sick; it was not something he was going to enjoy unlike most of the world that would have given their souls for this opportunity.

“You wanted to see” Clark said before Chloe pointed to a chair for Clark to sit in.

“I spoke with HR, and I spoke with Mr. Luthor. I explained the situation we are in and it seems that Mr. Luthor is willing to allow you to work part-time in this department” Chloe was not happy with the words she just spoke and Clark could see that.

“But what about…..”

“Yes, I spoke about the amount of time it takes to translate and Mr. Luthor’s philosophy is basically getting done by any means necessary”

“But that would mean I would have to work late and work weekends and work…..”

“Yeah, there isn’t much else I can do here. I fought with the man for nearly twenty minutes, but all I got was that you were *his* and that was the end of the story”

“I can’t stand the man!” Clark shouted, maybe quitting was a good idea but then again the Luthor name had plenty of sway in Metropolis so he would probably only end up back at _Julian_.

“Well at this point I can’t either” Chloe agreed before giving Clark a sad look, she would be sad to see him go. He seemed to be the only person in her department that she could relate to, most of the employees stuck to their cubes and heading out when it was quitting time.

“I have no suggestions, but this; do what you can and make sure they pay you for it”

“You’re right” Clark said knowing that Chloe was right, but damn if he didn’t have a busy enough schedule in the next couple of weeks. His parents had decided to rent out a stall/booth at the Metropolis Farmers Market to test the waters on how their organic produce would be received in the large town, along with the fact that he had a stack of papers at his house from the hospital that they wanted him to translate in the next couple of weeks as well. He felt like the family from the show ‘In Living Color’ when they said they had like twenty jobs, he was currently at the total of three not including helping out his parents. Clark sat for a moment before standing up and making his way back to his desk, there was still work to be done and Mr. Luthor would just have to fit over the fact that he wasn’t up there on the 20th floor with him for the time being.

“Maybe if Mr. Luthor decides he wants another junior assistant, I can get you back down here” Chloe said before watching Clark back as he left the office. She was not happy but there was nothing she could do. Clark arrived to his cube to see Kitty, Mr. Luthor’s assistant standing near his cube.

“Mr. Kent” Kitty said a frown on her face, she was not at all happy with this man to be taking her coveted spot of being Mr. Luthor’s assistant. Junior he may be but Kitty could tell that he had the admiration of Mr. Luthor and that was something that she just was unhappy to see. It was supposed to be her going with Mr. Luthor to look over fashion collections, not some loser from the nerd herd of translators.

“Uh, Kitty” Clark said looking at the woman and wondering what she was here for, okay so he knew but he was going to stay in the river of denial for as long as possible.

“That’s Ms. Kowalski to you” Kitty said before sneering at Clark, clearly unimpressed with him and the reason on why she was down in the basement instead on the 20th floor with Mr. Luthor.

“Here you go” Kitty said passing the phone over to Clark and giving him an evil grin. Clark could already tell that the woman standing before him was going to be a pain in the ass.

“Great, thanks” Clark said taking the phone out of Kitty’s grip and then waiting for the woman to leave. Kitty left without saying another word, Clark watched her as she made her way back out of the office and to the main elevators that would allow her to return to her desk on the 20th floor.

“Clark” Chloe said once she saw the retreating back of Kitty.

“Cell phone” Clark said holding up the phone in question for Chloe to see.

“I pity you” Chloe said knowing that nothing good would come from the cell phone now in Clark’s possession again.

“I pity me” Clark said before he sat at his desk and sighed, this was so not his idea of a better job. No this was clearly as far from that idea as he could get. Chloe laughed before making her way back to her office, there was nothing she could really say that would make Clark feel better, so she didn’t even try. Not twenty minutes after Clark had the cell phone was it ringing, with Clark knowing that Mr. Luthor was on the other end of the phone.

“Why me?” Clark questioned the ringing phone of course not receiving any sort of response. The phone continued to ring while Clark eyed it as if it was the Devil himself, and at this point in time Clark thought that the man on the other end was possibly the Devil or maybe even his son. Did the Devil reproduce? Clark had to end the thought because the phone had become silent but only for a moment for it began to ring again. This time Clark figured he had better answer or the stupid thing would continue to ring, Mr. Luthor took him as the type of person that would call until you picked up.

“Hello”

“Clarence”

“It’s Clark” Clark corrected knowing that Mr. Luthor wasn’t even listening to him since he had just continued to talk over Clark.

“Was there a reason you didn’t answer your phone the first time?”

“It’s the company’s phone and I was busy” Clark lied, he wasn’t going to tell the man that he had been staring at it wondering if the Devil could have kids or had them and if the man he was speaking with was possibly one of those children.

“Semantics” Mr. Luthor said before he began rattling to Clark about some other fashion designer that he was to meet as well with him. Clark was very tempted to tell Mr. Luthor that Kitty Kowalski was more than up for the task, but he knew that the man wouldn’t listen to that suggestion just like he didn’t listen to Clark now.

“Excellent” Mr. Luthor said before hanging up the phone with a very confused Clark on the other end.

“Where did I go wrong?” Clark questioned before closing the phone and setting it on his desk before deciding that maybe a bit of translating would get his mind off of Mr. Luthor and how crazy the man really was. It was as it was nearing the five o’clock hour that Clark’s cell phone went off again, this time Clark checked the caller ID and saw that it was the same number that had been calling, which meant that it was Mr. Luthor calling again.

“Hello” Clark said with a sigh, he so didn’t want to be answering this phone. He could only assume it would be more work for him and he had plenty of that at the present moment in time.

“Cason” Mr. Luthor greeted Clark, who then proceeded to correct the man on his name.

“It’s Clark, sir” Clark said hoping that maybe the ‘sir’ would slow the man down. It didn’t for the man was off and running about the meeting in the morning that he was to be at.

“I expect to see you at the viewing on time and I also want you to get as much information as you can on Jenny Lee” Mr. Luthor said before then hanging up the phone.

“He has to be kidding me” Clark mumbled before he wrote down the name and then decided that he was quite tired of being at work and that finding information on Jenny Lee would wait until the morning. Clark was assuming that the name was of yet another fashion designer but as to what they made he didn’t know and at this point in time didn’t care.

“Clark” Chloe said surprised to see Clark still in the office, she had figured that Clark had left the office on some errand that Mr. Luthor had called to make Clark do.

“I’m just leaving” Clark said with a weary sigh, he knew that he would probably end up being early tomorrow, just so that he didn’t look like a complete fool in front of Mr. Luthor but hell if he didn’t want this. He had been quite happy being an Arabic translator, but see where that got him? With an extra job he didn’t need or want. Chloe looked at Clark’s face and could tell that it would only be a matter of time before he broke, she could only hope that he would still be around after Mr. Luthor came down on him when he had either failed at something or just plain stopped being the man’s whipping boy.

“Get some rest”

“Of course” Clark agreed before making his way out of the building and then to the parking garage to his car. Clark was lucky in that he never received a call from Mr. Luthor that night, no instead Laurent had decided to call and leave a message stating that he would be back in town by the end of the week and he really wanted to see Clark. Clark could only shake his head; did Laurent think that he was that desperate for sex? The sound of his home phone woke Clark out of wondering if Laurent had another agenda on wanting to see him or if he had found that most that wanted to go to bed with him were tops and not bottoms, and since Laurent was purely a top it made finding someone of Laurent’s standards for a bottom hard.

“Hello” Clark answered figuring that the message on the answering machine was all that Laurent was going to leave until he arrived back in town.

“Clark” Martha Kent’s voice came over the phone, putting Clark at ease a bit. It was a good thing his mother had called, because he wasn’t really sure on what he should do now. In his heart, he wanted to quit and return to the hospital but he also loved the challenge that translating the magazine into Arabic provided to him.

“Hey mom” Clark greeted to his mother again.

“So how is work?”

“Oh I hate it” Clark said no reason to lie to his mother; he knew she would know if he was lying anyway. She was his mother after all and she always knew when he was not telling the truth about something.

“What’s wrong?”

“Well long story, short I seemed to have been made the junior assistant to Mr. Luthor”

“How”

“Well the cell phone that Chloe, my director, gave me for emergencies she said; well the phone number was given to Mr. Luthor from HR. They thought that I was the newest junior assistant when in fact the guy doesn’t start until next week. So I got a couple of calls from Mr. Luthor and not wanting to let the guy down, do the tasks and then next thing I know I am meeting with the man and have become his junior assistant” Clark said before sighing and taking a seat on his couch, he had just gotten up to get something to drink when the phone had rung.

“Oh honey”

“It’s okay mom” Clark said trying to reassure not only his mother but himself as well that things would be okay in the end.

“Clark” Martha said knowing what Clark was doing and she was not going to have any of it.

“Really it’s fine”

“Clark” Martha said before sighing, Clark could be so much like Jonathan that it sometimes amazed her even now.

“So have you and dad made any plans to come to Metropolis’ Farmers Market?” Clark said changing the subject; he didn’t want to talk about his job or jobs any longer.

“Well your father and I were thinking of coming up in the next couple of weeks”

“That sounds great” Clark said eager to see his parents again, he didn’t go back to Smallville much since the last few times he had gone Lana had reamed him out but good for doing so. Clark had no idea on *why* the girl was so bitter about it but he knew that she was.

“Can you see what we need to do to rent a booth or whatever?” Martha said wondering if her distraction would work.

“Yeah and I’ll call you with the details” Clark agreed before speaking with his mother for a bit longer and then hanging up with her. He did after all have a long day ahead of him and he figured that he would need all the sleep that he could get before doing battle with Mr. Lex Luthor about wedding wear.  



	7. Wedding Dresses and Opinions

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Clark gives his two cents on wedding dresses and some don't appreciate his words.

The next morning Clark woke up and wanted to groan, he had set his alarm early so that he would have time to get the research material that Mr. Luthor had asked for, but why did he have to set his alarm for 4:45 AM?

“I am *not* doing this again” Clark told his empty bedroom, before making his way out of his warm bed and to his cold bathroom and even colder shower. Twenty minutes later had Clark walking out of his bathroom a bit more awake and ready to get dressed for the day.

“What to wear, what to wear?” Clark said before pulling out a button up shirt in white with a pair of black pants to go with. He figured it was the best he could do, given such short notice of the meeting that morning. By 6:30 AM, Clark was walking into the building, intent on doing his research before his meeting; at 10:30 AM Clark had found out all he could on Jenny Lee and what she was about. It seemed that the woman was fairly new to the wedding dress design game but had been received great reviewers from many a designer in the world of wedding dresses.

“Clark” Chloe said surprised to see Clark at his desk and not on the 20th floor as she figured she would see him the next time she did see him.

“Research” Clark said before taking notice of the time and figuring that being late was a huge no, no in Mr. Luthor’s and probably being early was a good thing if there ever was a good thing with the bald man.

“Well you are cutting it a bit close” Chloe said noticing that the clock on the wall said that it was 10:45.

“He can wait” Clark joked before signing out of his computer and making his way to the elevators with his notes in hand. Mr. Luthor would just have to get over the fact that he didn’t memorize some wedding dress designer’s whole life, just to impress him. He had too much rattling in his brain already just to add more to it.

“Good luck” Chloe said watching as the elevators took Clark to meet his doom, Chloe was certain of it.

“You’re late” Kitty said as Clark stepped off the elevator, she was not at all happy with the way that things were going. It was to be her meeting with Mr. Luthor and the two designers from Badgley Mischka, not some man that had no sort of fashion sense at all. The injustice of it all!

“I’m right on time” Clark said watching as his watch ticked right to the 11 o’clock spot.

“Chason” Mr. Luthor said swinging his office door open and shooing Clark in.

“It’s Clark, sir” Clark corrected the bald man once again, he was almost certain at this point that the other man did this to see how long it would be before you exploded. Then again he had already done that once and it got him no closer to the man learning his name, but then again that was about Laurent and not his name. As Clark stepped into the office he noticed right away that there were a few models standing around in white bathrobes looking bored, while two men sat in chairs next to the glass desk that backed into the wall of glass, showing off the Metropolis skyline.

“Right” Mr. Luthor said before making his way back over to where the two men sat and then took a seat in his own chair, leaving Clark clueless as to what to do for a seat.

“Charles pull up a seat” Mr. Luthor said pointing to one of the empty visitor chairs that the man had in his office.

“It’s Clark, sir” Clark corrected once again before grabbing a chair and dragging it over to where the three men sat now.

“So this is our latest collection” a man said with graying hair and glass, he looked to Mr. Luthor to see if was to begin the showing of the latest bridal gowns that they had created for this year’s wedding season. They got a nod from Mr. Luthor and soon the first model was striding out in a white wedding dress that hugged the models body and then faired out at calf height and the train connecting to the twinkling straps that wrapped from the front of the dress to the back.

“This is called Bebe” a man with a serious tan and seriously white teeth said before waiting for the next model to come out. They had been through this with Mr. Luthor many times before since they also produced more than wedding dresses, but it seemed every time they did this with Mr. Luthor they were waiting for the man to tell them their whole collection was crap.

“This is called Brigitte” the older man spoke and then looked at Clark as if he was going to say something. Clark just watched as model after model came out in wedding dress after wedding dress. He had to admit that some he hated, like the one called Florence. It had way too many ruffles in his opinion but he said nothing waiting for some sort of cue from Mr. Luthor about if he was able to speak or not.

“I want to see Florence, Maria, Josephine and Viola again” Mr. Luthor said his face calmly neutral, not showing what he was thinking about when he asked to see those dresses again.

“Florence, Maria, Josephine and Viola” the man with the graying hair and glasses said to the models who still on those dress, their collection was small so the models only had one dress to model.

“Carlisle” Mr. Luthor said before pointing to the first dress and then titling his head a bit as if trying to see if in a better light.

“It’s Clark, sir” Clark said knowing that it was pointless to correct the man, but he still continued to do so. The two designers watched with an amazed looks on their faces, no one had ever gotten again with correcting Lex Luthor before but here was some assistant doing just that. What made him so special?

“What do you think of this dress?” Mr. Luthor asked Clark looking at the first dress which happened to be the dress that Clark was beginning to loath. It looked very much like something Lana would pick out if she was to ever get married, Clark shuttered to think what that wedding would look like; probably miles and miles of pink and miles and miles of stupid women giggling about how fairy tale the wedding was going to be.

“I’m not a huge fan of it” Clark said figuring he had nothing to lose at this point, he wasn’t a fashion designer and he certainly wasn’t a fashion magazine editor, no he was just an Arabic translator with the job from hell.

“Why”

“Too many…ruffles” Clark said before pointing to the bottom half of the dress, where layer upon layer of ruffles created the bottom half of the dress.

“Ruffles” Mr. Luthor said looking at the dress and then looking at the designers; both had frowns on their faces. They were not happy about something and Mr. Luthor could see that.

“And the rest of the dress?”

“The top is a bit too overdone for my tastes” here it seemed that one of the designers was *not* going to let Clark belittle their line.

“You can’t even dress yourself!” The man shouted while standing up before glaring at his design partner having a silent conversation and then sitting back down clearly in a huff.

“I’m just saying is all” Clark squeaked, he figured that something like that was going to happen when Mr. Luthor asked about his thoughts on the dress.

“Mischka” Mr. Luthor said glaring at said man making him sink into his seat.

“And the other dresses?” Mr. Luthor asked Clark hoping that he would still get an honest opinion out of the man, even after the designer had blown up at him.

“I don’t particularly like the fabric choice on that dress but the other two are amazing” Clark said figuring that he might as well say what he thought. He may be clueless when it came to his own clothes but he knew when he liked something and he was not a huge fan of the fabric that had been chosen for the dress they called Josephine.

“Hmm” Mr. Luthor said before looking at said dress and then looking back to the designers.

“Photos of the dresses” Mr. Luthor said before walking out of the office and making his way to another room, Clark followed along helpless not sure what to do.

“Clinton” Mr. Luthor called out making sure that Clark had followed him, which of course Clark had.

“It’s Clark, sir” Clark corrected now automatically not even really paying attention to if the man had said the correct name or not.

“What can you tell me about Jenny Lee?” Mr. Luthor asked before taking a seat in the large conference room chairs.

“Well she is new to the wedding dress design world, but she has received famous admirers from as far away as Japan. She opened her first boutique in 1995 and her success has grown from there”

“And…” Mr. Luthor said as if waiting for some secret knowledge that Clark should have found on the woman they were speaking about.

“Her mother was a designer as well”

“And…”

“Uh” here Clark was stuck, he didn’t know what else to say, since that was all the information that he had on the designer.

“Clifton”

“It’s Clark, sir”

“Did you look at her previous collections?”

“Yes”

“And….” Here Clark got what the man was asking about; he wanted to know what he thought about them.

“They were much more my style” here Clark blushed; he had said that so totally wrong!

“As in I like them better than those other ones, those just seemed to be trying so hard” Clark said wondering if he was making any sense at all. Maybe he wasn’t and Mr. Luthor would send him back to his cube; one could hope couldn’t they?

“I agree with you, the Badgley Mischka line always strikes me as the type of dresses for those that want to stand out and prove something” Clark nodded his head at the words that Mr. Luthor spoke, he totally agreed with the jerk on what he was saying. He couldn’t see his cousin Kara and Lana wearing dresses made by Jenny Lee, even if they could afford it. No he saw them in one of the hyped up dresses from Badgley Mischka instead, just to be noticed even more than they would be on their wedding day anyway.

“Excellent spotting” Mr. Luthor said an easy grin on his face, that made Clark pull up short. He had never seen the man sitting before him looking so at ease before and the look made Clark stop short because of the beauty behind the quirky smile.

“Jenny Lee will be here within the hour” Mr. Luthor said before standing up and making his way back to his office so that he could welcome his next designer in his office.

“Kent” Kitty said as Clark was passing her desk to go and wait in some corner until he was beckoned for a second time.

“Kitty” Clark greeted the mocha colored woman before getting a glare from her, it made her look very unattractive and considering she was quite beautiful that was a major feat.

“It’s Ms. Kowalski to you” the woman said still glaring at Clark, it was as she was about to speak again that Mr. Luthor poked his head out of his office and called for Clark.

“Cael” Mr. Luthor said before sweeping his hand in a gesture which told Clark to follow.

“It’s Clark, sir” Clark said before looking around the office and seeing that the Badgley Mischka designers and models were gone and the room was now empty except for Clark and Mr. Luthor.

“Yes, yes” Mr. Luthor said before taking a seat and then watching as Clark moved to a chair that now sat in front of his desk. This junior assistant had promise, much more so than the last few he had been given and obviously much more than Kitty his current assistant; who had been asking for some sort of break with working at _Julian_. His father in his infinite wisdom gifted the mocha colored woman to him, since her family had been ‘good family’ friends with the Luthor patriarch. That of course boiled down to the Kowalski family had done something which Lionel Luthor had liked and now he was repaying the favor in kind by allowing their daughter to be his assistant. It was something he could do without that was for sure, but he had granted the woman a year and she was only two short months away from meeting that contract.

“Sir” Clark said breaking Lex out of his thought process on Kitty and her status as his assistant, something he wanted to remedy as fast and as soon as possible.

“Yes, Craig” Mr. Luthor said putting back on his game face; he would not let this man know that he what he was thinking. No that would have to wait, until he was certain he could get rid of Kitty, the hopeless assistant.

“Mr. Luthor” Kitty said her buzzing voice coming over the intercom system that lay on the 20th floor, only.

“Kitty” Mr. Luthor said; he had gotten quite a diatribe from his father on the importance of using Kitty’s first name and having it being correct.

“Ms. Lee is here” Kitty said her voice carrying the distain that she felt for the other woman that was now standing before her.

“Show her in” Mr. Luthor said before standing up which had Clark scrambling to set the chairs back up so that Ms. Jenny Lee could use them how she saw fit. The door was then swung open and a small Asian woman was shown in with a huge smile on her face, as if not afraid of the big, bad Luthor that ran _Julian_.

“Ms. Lee” Mr. Luthor said and he was all style and grace and being the perfect gentleman; it all made Clark want to grind his teeth. How can this man be a huge jerk one moment and a gentleman the next?

“Mr. Luthor it is so nice to meet you” the woman, more like girl at least Clark thought, said smile still on her face making Clark wonder if Mr. Luthor was going to eat her for lunch if he didn’t like her collection.

“I have heard many great things about you” Clark heard Mr. Luthor lie, yeah he heard about as much as Clark had told him, although the man had asked about more information on her so maybe he had heard something; but Clark doubted he did the man couldn’t be in the same elevator as some people.

“Thank you” Jenny Lee said blushing at the complement that Mr. Luthor gave to her, Clark rolled his eyes. He couldn’t believe the woman was falling for Mr. Luthor’s crap, but maybe he was the only one that saw what a class A jerk the guy was.

“I have my collection”

“Excellent, Curtis help bring in the collection”

“It’s Clark, sir” Clark said before leaving out of the office door and then grabbing the long rack that held Jenny Lee’s latest collection of wedding dresses.

“Models” Jenny Lee asked, she could of course afford her own models but she had been told by a few designers that had met with Mr. Luthor that he would supply them for her.

“Crayton, get Kitty to get those models here” Mr. Luthor said before glaring at Clark as if it was his fault that Kitty was slacking her in duties as his assistant.

“It’s Clark, sir” Clark said before making his way out to Kitty’s desk where the woman was on the phone, of course talking to one of her friends as she tended to do all day anyway.

“Ms. Kowalski” Clark said knowing that he didn’t have time to play around with Kitty and the whole ‘name game’ she wanted to play.

“What?”

“Mr. Luthor wants those models”

“Oh well ain’t that all…” Kitty said before hanging up on her friend and then dialing some number before glaring at Clark.

“How many” she said a moment later, as if Clark had been told.

“Uh”

“How many?” Kitty said aggravated now that Clark hadn’t answered her.

“Ten” Clark guessed hoping that it was enough; either it being too many or not enough he knew that Mr. Luthor would have his guts for garters.

“Ten” Kitty said into the phone before agreeing and then glaring at Clark.

“They’ll be here in a few minutes”

“Thank you” Clark said before knocking on the door to Mr. Luthor’s office and receiving entry.

“They’ll be here in just a moment” Clark said by way of explanation, noticing that the woman was now sitting with her dresses still hanging on the long rack.

“Mr. Luthor” Kitty’s voice said over the intercom.

“Yes”

“The models have arrived” Kitty said as if acting like this was something she had planned and was just now coming to fruition, Mr. Luthor was not impressed.

“Show them in” he said in a clipped tone before glaring at Kitty once the models were in the office and making their way over to where Jenny Lee was waving them over and pressing dresses into their hands.

“We will talk later” Mr. Luthor his voice hinting at how unhappy he was, Kitty only nodded her head before backing out.

“Kyle”

“It’s Clark, sir” Clark said before going over to stand next to Mr. Luthor.

“I want your thoughts on these dresses as they are shown”

“Yes, sir” Clark agreed before grabbing a chair and then moving it to where Mr. Luthor was sitting.

“Here is my first dress” Jenny Lee said before her first dress was being shown to the pair of them. It was very reminiscent of the 1940s era and Clark was instantly in love with the collection if the rest of it proved to be like this dress.

“Thoughts?” Mr. Luthor said looking at Clark wondering what the dark hair man was thinking.

“Very understated but very 1940s as well, I like it” Clark said slanting a glance at Mr. Luthor to see that he had a pleased smile on his face.

“Indeed” he said with a tip of his head that Jenny Lee took as her cue to send out the next dress to the pair, and so it went for sixteen times. Each dress was in the style of the 1940s and each dress Clark had no problems with, even the one with the ruffles, these ruffles seemed to flow with the dress better than the dress from Badgley Mischka.

“So what do you think?” Jenny Lee asked a bit excited to hear what the famed Lex Luthor of _Julian_ Magazine and LexCorp thought about her latest collection.

“Chuck”

“It’s Clark, sir” Clark said shaking his head, even Jenny Lee was stunned at the amount of times that he had corrected Mr. Luthor on his name.

“Your thoughts on the collection”

“Amazing” Clark said figuring that was the only word that could describe the collection that the woman had put together.

“Indeed it is, I can only hope to see this same quality consistently” Mr. Luthor warned the young woman.

“I understand and I also brought some of my timeless collection” the young woman said happy that her line had been received so well.

“Well then what are we waiting for” with that said Jenny Lee sprang into action and began handing out the dresses to the models, watching then as they placed them on and then sending them out to where Mr. Luthor sat with Clark by his side.

“Wow” Clark said as he saw the first dress that Jenny Lee had decided to show them, Mr. Luthor had to chuckled at Clark’s exclamation; the dresses were decidedly ‘wow’ in quality and look. Dress after dress was shown and Clark could see many a brides wearing each of these for years to come, no matter what was in season or fashion this season or next.

“Excellent collection” Mr. Luthor said clearly impressed with Jenny Lee and her creations. Clark nodded his head in agreement, the woman had skill and it showed. She didn’t do flashy, figuring that your dress was a part of you and that it need not over shine you on your big day.

“Thank you Mr. Luthor” Jenny Lee gushed quite proud that her two collections had shown so well with Mr. Lex Luthor and _Julian_ Magazine. Mr. Luthor tipped his head to the side before barking some orders to Kitty through the intercom.

“Get the photographer in here” Mr. Luthor barked exasperated with Kitty and her lack of anticipating of his wants and needs, how could his new junior assistant get it but not her?

“Right away Mr. Luthor” Kitty said before breaking the connection and ordering up the photographers for Jenny Lee.

“I want photos of all of the dresses you brought today” Mr. Luthor explained before giving a look to Clark and then leaving the room. Clark stood confused on if he should follow the man or not, but since he was pretty certain the look he got meant ‘stay’ he stayed and waited for the photographer to arrive. Two hours later Clark was stumbling out of Mr. Luthor’s office making his way down to the basement to hide out for a bit, he knew sooner or later Mr. Luthor would be looking for him and he could only hope that Kitty would be so into impressing Mr. Luthor that she would distract him enough to forget about him. Then again…..Clark’s cell phone rung as he made the ride down to the basement.

“Hello” Clark said knowing that the cell phone worked in the elevator, this was after all a LexCorp building which meant that it had the best of the best and that meant that cell phones worked in the elevators, or at least Clark hoped so.

“Richard”

“It’s Clark, sir” Clark said he was truly getting tired of correcting the man, but Clark felt that if he didn’t do so that the man may never learn his name. ‘Is that a bad thing?’ Clark thought before listening to Mr. Luthor rattle on about something that Clark was uncertain on what he was to do or how he was to respond.

“So it is really a matter of the purple tie or the silver one”

“Uh, a tie?” Clark said making sure that he head things correctly.

“Yes, a tie” Mr. Luthor said as if confused by Clark’s words.

“The silver” Clark said hoping that he had picked the right color.

“Hmmm” Mr. Luthor said before going on about how the silver would bring out his eyes and then hanging up the phone.

“Clark” Chloe said surprised to see Clark standing on the elevator with a confused look on his face and a cell phone pressed to his ear.

“Mr. Luthor just asked me to pick out a tie for him” Clark explained before walking over to his cube and then sitting down in the chair there. The man had asked him for fashion tips, had the world gone mad?

“A tie?” Chloe asked confused and surprised, it wasn’t anything new that you should *never* ask Clark Kent about fashion. It had been a joke in the department even with the little amount of time that Clark had been at _Julian_.

“A tie” Clark confirmed for Chloe before shaking his head and spinning in his chair to log into his computer. Chloe stood there for a moment longer before deciding that she should make her way back to her office so that Clark could get some sort of work done for her. Clark was soon deep into his translations when the cell phone began to ring again.

“Hello” Clark said not really paying much attention to the phone as he picked it up and connected the call.

“Carlin” Clark heard Mr. Luthor say while in the background you could hear that he was obviously not at his desk in the office due to the amount of noise coming through the phone.

“It’s Clark, sir” Clark corrected yet again before shaking his head, he really didn’t see a point in doing that now.

“Right” Mr. Luthor said before he continued on with the reason for his call.

“I want a list of….” Here Mr. Luthor was cut off by someone asking the man something and receiving an answer to their question. Clark waited patiently for the man to realize that he was still on the phone.

“Now back to what I was saying, I want a list of all the places that are going to be ‘the place to get married’ when I get back to the office” Mr. Luthor said before hanging up the phone without so much as a goodbye. Clark hung onto the phone for a moment longer before closing the cell phone and throwing it on the desk. He had yet another off-the-wall project that would take more time than he was being given to get done.

“Can a brotha get a break?” Clark mumbled to himself before he brought up a browser to look at hopefully some sort of list that would help him in his quest to find ‘the place to get married’ across the US. It was not to be since each state spoke of the beauty and amazing possibilities that they had for wedding ceremonies that would be held there each and every year.

“Best start with Metropolis” Clark said before bringing up the city’s website and looking at all of the possibilities that were held in the city for wedding locations.

“The rose garden of course” Clark said putting the name on the list that he had begun to compile, he figured he would pick places that he would want to get married in and hope that at least some of them would make Mr. Luthor’s list for the ‘hottest place to get married’ for _Julian_ Magazine.

“What does Gotham have to offer?” Clark asked the computer before bringing up their website as well and noticing a couple of places, such as Cape Carmine or Grant Park; which had been said to have one of the most amazing green space, sort of like Central Park closer to home. Clark added another couple of places from various towns around the US, before he realized that Mr. Luthor might want locations that weren’t as accessible to the general public that most of his choices were.

“Singapore would be amazing” Clark said a faraway look on his face as he thought of the foreign country and what he would offer to those looking for an exotic experience.

“Spain, Italy” Clark said while writing each of the locations down, thinking of sun drenched country lands with scores of people dressed in formal wear waiting for the bride to make her way down the aisle, it was something that Clark could see. Nothing like that for him, no he would be quite happy with staying in the US and close to his family; but if he was given the chance he would have to pick Singapore. The exotic land had always appealed to him, with the exotic natives, the amazing views and the ancient language. Clark soon had a list of over fifty locations and he decided that the best way to present this to Mr. Luthor would be US and Foreign countries, that way there would be no confusion on where a location may be.

“Clark” Chloe said surprising Clark who was busy writing his lists up so that when Mr. Luthor came a calling he would be ready for him.

“Chloe, you scared me” Clark said grabbing his papers before they fell and he would be sitting there sorting through them to figure out what went where.

“Sorry about that” Chloe said blushing, she hadn’t meant to creep up on Clark like that but she figured she could at least warn him that Mr. Luthor was back in the building and probably looking for him.

“It’s okay, just make more noise or something next time” Clark joked with Chloe before he noticed that she was looking at him in a sympathetic way.

“He’s back”

“Yeah, I was making my way down here when I saw him strolling in”

“Great” Clark mumbled before standing up and then making his way over to the bank of elevators that would take him back up to the 20th floor. Clark arrived to the 20th floor to see that Kitty looked entirely way to smug about something.

“Bye, bye” Kitty taunted before waving her hand at him like a little kid would, Clark just glared, the woman was much too full of herself and he could only hope that she would get knocked down a peg or two soon. A Kowalski she may be, but that still didn’t mean that she could treat Clark like he was second best, then again maybe that was exactly what he was; second best.

“Mr. Luthor, your junior assistant has arrived” Kitty said as if giving his name would end her life.

“Send him in” Mr. Luthor said in a clipped tone of voice, oh the man was not happy about something but at this point in time Clark couldn’t care.

“Mr. Luthor” Clark greeted the bald man sitting at the glass desk with the Metropolis skyline hanging behind him, a reminder of the greatness that he had achieved.

“Clayton”

“It’s Clark, sir” Clark said taking a seat as Mr. Luthor gestured to the empty chairs now sitting back in their rightful place in front of the desk.

“Kitty spoke to me about…” here Mr. Luthor looked at Clark had began to wonder on if what Kitty had told him was true. She seemed to always make a face when he asked or spoke about the man sitting before him, and the more he thought about it the more he began to realize that Kitty wasn’t the best judge of character.

“I was in the basement the whole time you were gone” Clark said figuring that Kitty had said something about him saying something less than pleasant about Mr. Luthor to one of the many workers on one of the many floors.

“The whole time” Mr. Luthor asked shocked, he had figured that his junior assistant wouldn’t return back to the translation department once he was promoted, but that didn’t seem to be the case.

“Yes, Chloe saw me” Clark said before fidgeting with the papers in his hands.

“Hmmm” Mr. Luthor said thinking that Kitty was becoming more trouble than she was worth, then again the woman wasn’t worth much to begin with.

“Here are my lists of ‘the best places to get married’” Clark said before handing over the two pieces of papers explaining that one was US destinations and the other were overseas destinations.

“Singapore?” Mr. Luthor asked Clark, he was quite surprised to see some of the locations that Clark picked out on the lists.

“Amazing views and from what I understand, very friendly atmosphere” Clark explained before the buzz of the intercom came on.

“Mr. Luthor” Kitty said almost sounding concerned about something.

“Kitty” Mr. Luthor said wondering if there was a reason as for the woman interrupting his meeting with his junior assistant.

“Is everything alright?”

“Fine” Mr. Luthor said before clicking off the intercom and then glaring at said piece of equipment. Clark wanted to laugh; it seemed that Kitty had gotten herself in even more trouble.

“Now as I was saying” Mr. Luthor said before glaring at his door as if willing Kitty to come through the door with some stupid reason for another interruption with the meeting he was having currently.

“I wasn’t sure on if you wanted it limited to the US only, so I picked some places aboard that I assume would be amazing places to hold a wedding” Clark said willing himself to be still in the chair he was sitting in.

“Excellent, excellent” Mr. Luthor said after thinking over Clark’s words, _Julian_ of course had lists of ‘the hottest places to get married’ in their wedding edition every year, but every year it was the same five locations. It seemed that his junior assistant was here to change some things up, he of course saw the usual spots on the list but they seemed to be towards the bottom.

“Is this list in any sort of order?” Mr. Luthor questioned Clark; he had to know if the top five locations on each list were the top five locations or if they just were placed there on the list.

“I’ve listed them by what I thought would be the most exotic to the least exotic” Clark said thinking that he might have ordered his lists wrong.

“Hence Singapore as number one on the aboard list” Mr. Luthor reasoned before he was off and thinking of photo shoots and all sorts of things that came with putting together the article for the ‘Top Five Locations to get Married’ for _Julian_ Magazine; Mr. Luthor decided then that maybe making it top five for the US and the top for aboard locations would be better.

“Mr. Luthor” Clark said after a moment when it looked like Mr. Luthor was deep into his plans for whatever it was that he was thinking.

“Carlos” Mr. Luthor said before shooing Clark out of his office with the words of yet another meeting he was to be at the next morning. Kitty sneered at Clark as he made his way out of Mr. Luthor’s office, when it looked like Clark hadn’t been fired she stomped her way into Mr. Luthor’s office. Clark heard Mr. Luthor reaming Kitty out as the elevator doors closed to take him back down to his cube in the basement.

“Clark” Chloe said surprised to see Clark making his way back downstairs to her neck of the woods.

“Can I?” Clark said before looking over to his cube with longing, he so just wanted to spend the rest of the day in the basement, in his cube; avoiding the bald headed man that was calling himself Clark’s boss.

“Sure” Chloe said before shaking her head, Mr. Luthor was going to burn Clark out and then he would be left with the incapable Kitty yet again and he would be stomping around the building like he had been before Clark started and took up the task of being his junior assistant. Clark quickly made his way over to his cube and then signed back into his computer; he wanted to do something that didn’t require him to make decisions for the fashion world for the next couple of hours, before he went home. It was then that he remembered that he had promised his mother that he would look into the Metropolis Farmers Market and what it took to get a booth or stall there.

“The Farmer’s Market?” Chloe asked walking up on Clark while he surfed around the internet trying to figure out how to reserve a booth; so far he had hit a dead-end with the website that was run by the city for the place, so now he was on some organization’s website that helped out with the Farmers Market.

“My parents want to try their hand here”

“They’re famers?” Chloe asked surprised, she didn’t figure Clark as a farmer type of guy. Okay she did, but she didn’t think that he was really a famer, just some geek that went to some private school in high school and was in the 4H club at school.

“Kent Organic Farms” Clark said before coughing at the look on Chloe’s face.

“My dad raves about that place; he swears it’s the best produce in Kansas”

“Well…” Clark said embarrassed, he had always been sort of wrangled about being a farm hand while in high school so he tried to keep his life before moving to Metropolis a bit of a mystery. Even Laurent didn’t know much about Clark’s past, and the man had been his lover for years.

“The strawberries” Chloe said remembering when her father came for a visit and had brought some strawberries to butter her up into going on a blind date with one of his worker’s son.

“One of my mother’s pride and joy” Clark said flashing back to when he was still at home or went back for visits and his mother plying him with strawberries to help with the work in the large garden she kept for flower arrangements that someone people sometime ordered.

“I so have to meet them” Chloe said excited to meeting Clark’s parents and to also meet the famers that grew the best strawberries in the world, at least in her opinion.

“I’m hoping to get something set up in the next couple of weeks”

“Let me see what I can do” Chloe said ready to see the rest of the Kent family this weekend or next if she could swing it.

“Uh, okay” Clark said before he watched as Chloe made her way to her office to do who knew what. With not much else to do, Clark began working on the translations that seemed to have piled up on his desk. Clark had just begun on his second article translation when his phone rang, his LAN line phone and Chloe walked up to his desk.

“Go ahead” Chloe said before watching Clark answer the phone and then watching as his face turned into something quite unhappy.

“Fine” Clark said before hanging up the phone and then grumbling about something.

“Okay there?” Chloe asked wondering who it was that called, she knew of only a few people that would actually call Clark on the LAN line.

“Kitty has decided that I am Mr. Luthor’s whipping boy. I need to have his coffee on his desk before he arrives tomorrow morning” Clark quoted back to Chloe before rolling his eyes. He was so much better than that, but it seemed that Kitty or Mr. Luthor didn’t care a lick about that.

“I’m sorry” Chloe said before she began bouncing on the balls of her feet.

“So how did the booth/stall search go?”

“Excellent!” Chloe said before smiling wide at Clark, oh he was going to love her for this one.

“So?”

“This weekend and I managed to get them a spot in Shed One” Chloe said, she had fought with the people about getting the Kents a spot in the first shed, but it seemed that once she explained that she wouldn’t be taking no for an answer they understood the best thing to do was do what she said and be done with her.

“What?” Clark said surprised, he had figured that he might be able to get a spot for his parents in the next couple of weeks, a month at the max but it seemed that Chloe had managed much more.

“Shed One, their spot in number…” here Chloe looked down to the details she had gathered from the person she had been working with.

“One oh eight” Chloe said before explaining at what time the spot would be available and for how long they had the slot.

“Thanks Chloe” Clark said before smiling at Chloe, making her heart rate increase just a little bit. She could dream, couldn’t she?

“No problem, but I expect a nice large basket of strawberries on my desk come Monday morning” Chloe said before laughing and getting a nod in response from Clark. By this time it was time for Clark to leave, so he signed out of his computer and then made his way to the bank of elevators to ride up to the main floor before making his way home.

“Charlie” Mr. Luthor greeted Clark as he stepped off another elevator that had come down from the 20th floor.

“It’s Clark, sir” Clark said as he made his way off the elevator that had risen from the basement. Mr. Luthor noticed that the elevator was empty and had come up instead of down.

“Is there a reason for you coming from the basement?”

“That’s where my desk is, Mr. Luthor” Clark said before he saw an unhappy look pass over Mr. Luthor’s face.

“The basement is for the Translation Department”

“Of which I am a part of” Clark said noticing now that there were groups of people stopping and watching the conversation that the pair of them were having.

“You are my junior assistant, first and foremost”

“I understand that sir” Clark said not wanting to get into a fight with the man so out in the open. It was bad enough that he couldn’t stand the man but to actually have a fight where others could see was pushing it in Clark’s book.

“Then your reason for being in the basement?” Mr. Luthor asked his cool tone telling Clark that he was not happy at all with what Clark was saying.

“I was translating the to-be-released edition of _Julian_ into Arabic” Clark said hoping that would put the man off; it seemed that it had the opposite effect.

“You are *my* junior assistant”

“And I was the Arabic translator before that” Clark said now through clenched teeth, he was about ready to scream at the man.

“Clark” Chloe said popping off another empting elevator and making her way over to where Clark and Mr. Luthor seemed to be deep in conversation.

“Chloe” Clark said before sliding a glance to the perky blonde in a business suit, which made him miss the look that Mr. Luthor shot to Chloe for such familiarity with *his* junior assistant.

“Ms. Sullivan”

“Mr. Luthor” Chloe said formally before she started to act as if Mr. Luthor wasn’t there.

“I am hoping that you can get me the rough cut of that article by tomorrow afternoon”

“I’ll try” Clark said peeking over to Mr. Luthor and seeing that the man looked a bit stunned.

“Ms. Sullivan” Mr. Luthor said wiping the stunned look off his face to ask about what Chloe was talking about to *his* junior assistant.

“Mr. Luthor” Chloe answered back she knew what the man was going to ask and she was going to make sure that it was explained that if she lost Clark, _Julian_ Magazine lost all of the Arabic reading nations as clients.

“Is there a reason why you are speaking to my junior assistant….” Here Mr. Luthor was cut off by Chloe, she really didn’t have to hear the rest of his question, she already knew it what he was going to ask.

“Clark” here Chloe put an emphasis on his name while looking at Mr. Luthor before continuing on.

“Was and is the only Arabic translator that _Julian_ currently has. I hate to say this but most of the people that applied for the job were looking for an in to _Julian_ Magazine and not to actually do any translating” Chloe said finishing her explanations and she could see that her words were received loud and clear, for Mr. Luthor did not look happy at all.

“Unacceptable” Mr. Luthor said before marching off and out the building while grabbing his cell phone to call someone.

“Uh, did I miss something” Clark said watching the back of Mr. Luthor as it left the building with a cell phone to his ear.

“Not any more than usual” Chloe said knowing that whatever it was that Mr. Luthor was doing it was not something Clark needed or should know about. Clark shrugged his shoulders, if Chloe said he need not worry then he planned to do that. There was no sense in worrying over nothing that was for sure.

“Have a good night and see you tomorrow” Clark said before waving to Chloe and then making his way out of the building and to his waiting car. He never noticed that most of the people that had been in the building watching the pair of them still stood there amazed that Clark had lived to see another day when dealing with Mr. Luthor. Chloe shook her head, her thoughts circling around why Mr. Luthor seemed to be keeping Clark around. She knew he was good at getting a job done, but no one had been able to talk to Mr. Luthor the way that Clark did and she had to wonder if maybe, just maybe Mr. Luthor liked what he was seeing with Clark. It was no mystery that Mr. Luthor swung both ways with an emphasis on the male form, and Clark was one fine male form if she ever saw one. He was all tan skin and muscled body with a heart of gold, it still amazed her that someone so *wholesome* was gay. You just didn’t see that in Middle America, where farming was in the blood and not something so metropolis and not the city where they lived. Chloe shook her head and headed out of the building as well, she had a father to interrogate and she planned to get as many answers as possible about the Kent family and what Clark was like in high school. Chloe snorted at the thought that Clark had probably mooned over the town’s princess while being so far in the closet that he was backed up to the cedar walls. With that thought in mind Chloe made her way out of the building and to her car, all the while thoughts of Clark’s life before his moving to Metropolis running through her head.

                Clark arrived home to see that there was a message on the answering machine, well actually there were three and Clark just *knew* that one of them was Laurent, who was still MIA on the fashion shoot he was doing in some small country in Europe. Clark threw his keys on the table that was sitting next to the door and then pressed play to the answering machine that sat on the same table.

“Clark” Clark heard in Laurent’s voice, he had been hoping that Laurent would soon tire of not speaking to him and quit calling but it seemed that Laurent seemed even more determined due to Clark not answering the phone. Clark didn’t really listen to the message since he knew it would be the same as it had been for the last few weeks, something about him missing Clark like crazy and saying that when he got back that they would just have to have dinner together.

“Whatever” Clark said deleting the message in the middle of Laurent’s spiel, the next voice was that of his mother.

“ Clark’s it’s your mother” Martha said making Clark laugh, as if he couldn’t figure out that it was his mother on the machine.

“I had been hoping to catch you but you probably haven’t even made it in…” Martha rambled before stopping herself and getting to the reason that she was calling.

“Your father is in a right state about the possibility of showing off his produce” here Martha laughed, Jonathan Kent was horrible when it came to his family and his farm. It was like a spitting match with guys, who could spit the furthest only this dealt with produce. Martha still didn’t get it but she let her husband have his fun with walking around town stating that his produce was the best in the city and probably the county. No one had ever stated otherwise, for most of them bought produce from them and they were farmers themselves.

“Give us a call if you found out anything” Martha said before saying that she loved Clark and to get plenty of rest.

“As if that is possible now” Clark said before sighing when he heard the third message on his machine.

“Kent, Mr. Luthor wants his coffee first thing in the morning, so you better not think of being late and if that means you have to leave early then plan to” Kitty’s voice came through the phone. Clark wasn’t really sure on why the woman didn’t just call the stupid cell phone that sat in his pocket but he had a feeling that Kitty had been nosing around in the HR department to see just how qualified he was to be Mr. Luthor’s junior assistant and just happened to find his home phone number, it was a scare tactic he was certain of.

“If you screw this up” Kitty said before then hanging up the phone, Clark stood confused by Kitty’s attitude.

“Well if you would *tell* me what it is that Mr. Luthor drinks that would be nice” Clark snarked to the machine knowing that he would never say something like that to Kitty, she was after all quite scary when she wanted to be. Clark soon deleted the other messages and made his way to the kitchen for something to eat, he could really go for some of this mother’s cooking but he knew he had to at least wait until that weekend when his parents would arrive from the farm to sell their produce at the Farmer’s Market downtown.

 


	8. Coffee Shops Pick Up and how many Names Start with the Letter C?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Clark is told to get Lex's coffee and Lex continues to get Clark's name wrong.

The next morning found Clark making his way to a local coffee shop that he had noticed their paper cups in the trash in Mr. Luthor’s office the day before. Clark snorted at the thought that he had been paying entirely way too much attention on what was in Mr. Luthor’s trash; at that thought Clark thanked his lucky stars that there wasn’t something like a condom in the trash.

“Ew” Clark said thinking of Mr. Luthor bringing up one of the models only to have sex with them on his desk. Clark shook his head, he was obviously sleep deprived already if he was entertaining thoughts of what Mr. Luthor did on his down time, if that man even had one. The twinkle of the bell over the door woke Clark out of his thoughts of Mr. Luthor and what he did when he was not at _Julian_.

“Welcome to Sri Latte” a woman with short brown hair and glasses on her face greeted Clark.

“Morning” Clark said looking over the board of all the coffees that were available, he had no idea what to get Mr. Luthor so instead of taking a wild guess he decided to ask the worker and see if maybe they could help him.

“Uh” Clark said making his way to the counter where the woman stood with a smile on her face.

“I work for Mr. Luthor” was all that Clark needed to say before the woman was shouting out orders that Mr. Luthor’s daily needed to be prepared.

“Does he come here a lot?”

“Something like that” the woman grumbled before glaring at the barista that was making their way towards her.

“I…uh” the barista started to speak before the woman went totally psycho on them.

“Mr. Luthor’s coffee had better be ready in the next two minutes or you won’t have a job”

“It’s okay” Clark said trying to defuse the situation, this only made the woman glare at him and snarl that she was going to make the damn thing herself.

“Is she…” Clark said looking to the barista for some sort of help.

“Mr. Luthor isn’t one of our favorite customers” the person explained before grinning at Clark before making their way back to the machine that the woman now stood at.

“That man” Clark said before watching the pair of workers make whatever it was that Mr. Luthor drank when he came into the shop.

“Here you go” the woman said before handing over the warm cup of coffee. Clark was attempting to pull out his wallet when the woman told him it was free of charge, they had been happy not to have to deal with Mr. Luthor and so they decided the drink was on the house.

“Sure?” Clark said raising the cup a bit higher in the air. The woman nodded her head before watching as Clark made his way out of the shop and towards his parked car. Clark arrived to the _Julian_ Magazine building in no time and parked his car in the first free space he found. On the elevator ride up to the 20 th floor he noticed that there seemed to be quite a few people staring at him, he was pretty sure he didn’t have anything of his face or his clothes so he figured that word had spread about his run in with Mr. Luthor the night before. Clark wanted to groan it would be just a matter of time before someone asked him about his ‘conversation’ with Mr. Luthor yesterday. The bing of the elevator saved Clark from the thoughts on how to explain that Mr. Luthor was unimpressed that his junior assistant really wasn’t here for his beck and call to the other workers of the building.

“You’re here?” Kitty said surprised that not only was Clark there but it seemed that he was early and had made his way to the local coffee shop that Mr. Luthor bought his coffee from.

“I am” Clark said before making his way into Mr. Luthor’s office knowing the man wasn’t there, it was much too early in the morning, or at least Clark thought it was. Once in the office Clark noticed that there was a small plate with a spoon and some other items sitting around it that looked to be for the beverage in his hand.

“You have to be kidding me” Clark mumbled as he placed the coffee on the plate and then started to make his way out of the office, thinking about how everyone always seemed to jump when Mr. Luthor told them to.

“Javier” Mr. Luthor greeted Clark as he was making his way down to the basement via the elevator.

“It’s Clark, Mr. Luthor” Clark said his voice tight, he had been hoping to get away from the floor for at least a few hours before having to make his way back up there for the meeting that the man said he needed to be at.

“You’re quite early for the meeting” Mr. Luthor said looking over Clark and wondering why his junior assistant was in his office.

“I was dropping off your coffee” Clark explained before trying to make his way to the office doors so that he could escape. Mr. Luthor turned to his desk to see that there was a paper cup sitting on the plate that it usually sat on.

“I see” Mr. Luthor said now wondering why Kitty hadn’t gotten his coffee that was one of her only tasks that he allowed her to do.

“Well” Clark said looking at Mr. Luthor hoping that the bald man wouldn’t keep him up on the 20th floor, he had promised Chloe that he would try and finish that article that he had been working on the day before.

“Kitty” Mr. Luthor said just loud enough for Kitty to hear him, and she came in running throwing a smirk to Clark and going to stand in front of Mr. Luthor’s desk.

“Mr. Luthor” Kitty said a smile on her face, she just knew that Clark was about to get fired and she would be there to see the fireworks.

“Is there a reason on why Juan here is getting my coffee?” Mr. Luthor asked Kitty, the look that came over Kitty’s face made Clark not want to be in the room.

“He is the junior assistant” Kitty said her voice telling both Clark and Mr. Luthor how unhappy she was with Mr. Luthor’s line of questions.

“I tasked my coffee every morning to you and you alone”

“I know that” Kitty said crossing her arms over her chest, pouting and looking like a little girl.

“And yet I have to go and get my *own* coffee every morning, why is it that my junior assistant can do the job but you cannot?” Kitty threw a nasty glare at Clark before trying to explain herself, it didn’t work and Clark took this as his cue to leave. Clark didn’t hear what Kitty’s answer was since he was making his way to the elevators to take him down to the basement.

“Clark” Chloe said surprised to see Clark making his way to his desk, she had figured that the whole getting coffee for Mr. Luthor would have Clark up in the Mr. Luthor’s office for the whole day, but it seemed she was wrong.

“Chloe” Clark said before going and taking a seat in his chair, he just knew that any moment now Kitty or Mr. Luthor would be calling looking for him.

“So did you tell your parents about the spot at the Farmers Market?”

“No, shoot” Clark said totally forgetting that he had needed to call his parents and tell them the good news about the spot at the Farmers Market, with the call from Laurent and then Kitty he had totally forgotten about it.

“You can call them right now” Chloe said bouncing on her heels, she had spoken to her father and he had told her all about Clark Kent and the Kent family. They seemed like the perfect family, and now she just couldn’t wait until the weekend when she would meet the parents behind the man that now sat in front of her.

“You sure?”

“I think _Julian_ can handle a few minutes of long distance charges for you to call your parents” Chloe said before bouncing some more, making the other workers wonder what she was on.

“Okay” Clark said turning in his chair and then grabbing the phone, then dialing a phone number he knew by heart, Martha picked up after the second ring.

“Kent Farms, Martha speaking”

“Hey mom” Clark said knowing that his mother would be worried about him calling so early in the morning and on a work day no less.

“Clark? Are you okay?” Martha shot out in rapid succession, making Clark laugh. He had been right of course so he had better explain the reason for his call before his mother showed up on his door step looking like a mother dragon.

“I’m fine, I just forgot to tell you that my boss, Chloe was able to get you guys a spot at the Metropolis Farmer’s Market this weekend”

“Really” Martha said her voice telling Clark that his mother was thinking something that would probably make him blush if he knew.

“Yeah” Clark said before shooting a glance in Chloe’s direction and seeing the grin on her face.

“Then tell her thank you and we will be there Saturday morning” Martha said before saying her goodbyes to Clark and then hanging up the phone.

“So” Chloe said excited to hear what the mother Kent had said about her getting them a spot.

“She said to thank you and that they will be here Saturday morning, so thank you” Clark said before smiling at Chloe. The cell phone sitting on Clark’s desk decided then that it should ring, which had Clark groaning and Chloe rolling her eyes.

“You get that” Chloe said before disappearing before Clark could even answer the cell phone.

“Hello?”

“Carline”

“It’s Clark, sir” Clark said wanting to groan, it was Mr. Luthor on the other end. He was one of the last people that Clark wanted to talk to at the present moment.

“Yes, right” Mr. Luthor said before began asking about Clark’s whereabouts.

“I’m in the basement, sir”

“Basement” Mr. Luthor said not sounding happy about the location of his junior assistant.

“Yes sir”

“You are to be in my office in five minutes” Mr. Luthor said before hanging up the phone, allowing Clark to really groan this time. Clark stood a moment later and then made his way up to the 20th floor where Mr. Luthor was waiting for him. Kitty was not at her desk when he arrived and Clark thanked his lucky stars, for he wasn’t really sure on what he could do if the woman tried to start something with him now. He was quite tired of her but he knew there was nothing he could do besides ignore her.

“Caesar” Mr. Luthor said before pointing to a chair in front of his desk.

“It’s Clark, sir” Clark said before shaking his head, there was really no reason on why he continued to correct the man since it seemed to do nothing for the other man in regards to his name.

“Yes, whatever” Mr. Luthor said waving his hand a bit and then staring at Clark trying to see if he could get any sort of readings from the other man’s eyes.

“Sir” Clark said when it looked like Mr. Luthor wasn’t going to say anything, but instead just stare at him.

“You were in the basement because?” Clark stared at Mr. Luthor as if he had lost his mind, they had just had this discussion last night, was the man dense or something?

“I work down there”

“No you work for me”

“We all work for you” Clark said knowing that he was probably pissing off Mr. Luthor.

“True, but that is not what I meant and you know it” Mr. Luthor said giving Clark a look that clearly told him how he felt about his words.

“I am an Arabic translator in the translation department”

“You are my junior assistant” Clark said nothing, there was nothing that he could say that would make Mr. Luthor understand that this job of being a junior assistant wasn’t what he was hired to do.

“Mr. Luthor” Kitty buzzed into the conversation, making Clark sigh in relief. Kitty had come a calling and that was always a good thing in Clark’s book, at least it was for right now.

“Kitty this had better be good” Mr. Luthor all but snarled over the intercom connection.

“Sir you appointment is here” she said a bit afraid on what was going on with Mr. Luthor to have him snarl as he had.

“Send them in” Mr. Luthor barked out while then watching the door, waiting for the appointment to make its way through the door.

“Ms. Wang” Mr. Luthor greeted the older Asian woman making her way into the office.

“Mr. Luthor” the woman said noticing that Clark was standing off to the side in the office.

“So glad you could make it”

“Hmmm” the woman said before shaking Mr. Luthor’s hand and then taking a seat.

“Pablo” Mr. Luthor barked out before asking the Asian woman if she wanted anything to drink.

“It’s Clark, sir” Clark said gritting his teeth the whole time, the Asian woman chuckled at Clark’s words and then declined any sort of refreshments.

“I was hoping that we could discuss some of your latest wedding line”

“Of course, of course” the woman said her cool attitude making Clark calm down just a bit. He had never seen anyone act like Ms. Wang was currently in the presence of Mr. Luthor.

“These dresses here” Mr. Luthor said while bringing out some photos that had been taken of the dresses that Clark had picked out when he had been requested to do so what felt like weeks ago. The Asian woman pulled the photos to her and then smiled.

“Yes, these pieces are some of my best work for this year’s line” Mr. Luthor nodded his head in agreement before asking the woman if she would be amendable to allowing them to use the dresses in question in some up and coming photo shoots for the Wedding Edition of _Julian_.

“Perfectly alright” the woman said before chatting with Mr. Luthor for a bit longer and then leaving, she was after all a busy woman.

“Herman”

“It’s Clark, sir” Clark said before looking at Mr. Luthor and seeing that the man had some amusement in his eyes. Clark rolled his eyes and then made his way towards where Mr. Luthor still sat behind his desk.

“Your next assignment is to set up trips to the locations that you picked out, the top five of each list” Mr. Luthor explained to Clark, who was stunned by the words that the bald man spoke.

“I will choose what dress goes to which location” Mr. Luthor then explained before going on about the plans for the Clark. Clark took it all in too shocked to write anything down, was he actually going to be able to visit some of the places that he had wanted to for years now?

“Kitty will show you to your desk” Mr. Luthor said making a point to glare at Clark as if daring him to go against his words. Clark only nodded his head, figuring there was no point in fighting with the man since it would probably only land him back in this office fighting with the bald headed man yet again.

“Kitty” Mr. Luthor buzzed before waiting for Kitty to arrive in his office.

“Mr….” Kitty started to speak before she took notice that Clark was standing in the room.

“Show Darren here his desk” Mr. Luthor said before waving the pair away and getting on the phone.

“Don’t think that I like you” Kitty said once they were outside of Mr. Luthor’s office. Clark nodded his head in agreement; he didn’t like the woman either.

“Here” Kitty said pointing out a tiny desk in the corner as far away from Kitty and the elevators as possible.

“Thanks” Clark said pulling out the chair and taking a seat in said chair while watching as Kitty made her way back to her desk a smug smile on her face.

“Now to get to work” Clark said to himself before turning in the chair and logging into the computer that sat on the tiny desk. After quickly signing in Clark began to work on the translation that he had promised Chloe, he was so glad that he had taken to saving all of the documents that Chloe gave him to the personal space on the server, instead of on the desktop like most people did.

“Kent” Kitty said about two hours later, Mr. Luthor was looking for Clark and she had been tasked with the job to find him. She didn’t think he had gone far from his desk but she figured that if Clark wasn’t at his desk she could get him into some hot water.

“Ms. Kowalski” Clark answered back before minimizing the screen that he had been staring at before.

“Mr. Luthor is looking for you” Kitty said wondering what Clark was doing that he felt he had to hide it from her.

“Okay” Clark said before locking up his computer, knowing that Kitty wouldn’t be able to get into the computer and see what he was doing since each desktop was linked to a user name.

“Whatever” Kitty said before stomping over to her desk, hoping that she would be able to hear Mr. Luthor yelling at Clark for some reason or another.

“Mr. Luthor” Clark said as he entered the office.

“Harry”

“It’s Clark, sir”

“Right” Mr. Luthor said before he started in on what he had called Clark there for.

“I need you to pick out of these three dresses which one you like best, for a sea side wedding” Mr. Luthor said before laying out the three photos of wedding dresses and watching Clark’s face for any type of reaction.

“The Middle one”

“The middle one?” Mr. Luthor asked surprised that Clark had picked that particular dress, he had hated it from the moment he saw it but it seemed that his junior assistant saw something in the dress that he didn’t.

“Yes” Clark said fully committed to his decision on the second wedding dress looking the best for a sea side wedding.

“Your reasons”

“Well if this is for the Hamptons wedding, it is a mixture of old and new designs sort of like Hamptons” Clark explained hoping he wasn’t saying some totally stupid. It wasn’t as if he had actually even been to the East Coast but he did know that the Hamptons was the place that people with ‘old’ and ‘new’ money usually went for summers, Clark had even heard that Bruce Wayne frequented the locale which spoke about the popularity of the spot with regards to the rich.

“Hmmm” Mr. Luthor said before taking the photos back with the second dress on top, as if deciding if Clark’s words rang true or not.

“If that is all” Clark said before making his way out of the office before Mr. Luthor spoke again.

“You have to be kidding me” Clark said coming back to his desk and seeing a huge pile of papers that weren’t there when he had left. He knew only one person that would put the papers on his desk and that was Kitty Kowalski.

“What is this” Clark said going over to Kitty’s desk and asking her about the pile of papers.

“Those are requests for meeting with Mr. Luthor and other items; I left notes on what you needed to do should you not know what to do” Kitty said smug before her phone rang and then she began speaking as if Clark wasn’t standing there gaping at her. Clark shook his head and then made his way back to his desk to see how much of the pile he could get through; he figured that this was only a way for Kitty to show that she was needed and that he was totally and completely useless. Hours later had Clark stumbling out of the building his head pounding and his hand killing him due to all of the writing he had done while completing the pile of papers that Kitty had given him.

“Friday can’t come soon enough” Clark mumbled to himself while waiting for the elevator.

“Oscar” Mr. Luthor said coming up besides Clark while he continued to wait for the elevator that would take him home.

“It’s Clark, sir” Clark said not even turning to look the other man in the eyes.

“Hmmm” Mr. Luthor said right before the elevator arrived and dinged, letting them know that it had arrived. Clark took a peek at Mr. Luthor and then entered the elevator, already anticipating that Mr. Luthor would throw him out of the elevator with the same excuse he had used when they had first met. Instead Mr. Luthor entered the cab of the elevator and said nothing the whole ride, he instead was on his phone tapping at the touchscreen not even bothered it seemed that Clark was in the same elevator as him. The elevator arrived to the ground floor in short order with Mr. Luthor getting out first and Clark following behind him, he noticed that it looked as if the building had been closed for the day. ‘Was it really that late?’ Clark thought before he decided to at least be nice and say good night to Mr. Luthor.

“Good night Mr. Luthor” Clark said as he opened one of the glass doors to the building that would take him to the parking garage, where his car sat alone in a parting spot. Mr. Luthor on the other hand stopped walking and doing what he had been doing on his phone when he heard Clark’s words. No one in a good ten years had said good night to him and actually mean it, and he knew that *his* junior assistant meant it.

“Good night to you, Clark” Mr. Luthor said quietly so that Clark didn’t hear his words. Lex Luthor may be many things but stupid he was not. He knew good and well what *his* junior assistant name was, but he wanted to see how long it would take for the man to stop correcting him or went off on his like he did before. His last assistant had lasted two days before not arrived back to _Julian_ for the next business day. Kitty was only called by her name because his father had instructed him to do so; he really didn’t care what the woman’s name was. She was the worst assistant he had, had and it would only be a few short months before she would be gone. Lex had every intention of making Clark his assistant once he got rid of Kitty, after all the man was doing Kitty’s job anyway. What Kitty didn’t know was that Lex had taken notice and that would be the reason for her firing, there would be recourse she could take. Lionel had, had the deal fall through with her father and so he was more than willing to allow Lex to get rid of the woman. Lex made his way out to the car that was waiting for him outside the lobby entrance, where a driver waited next to the limo that sat out front.

“Mr. Luthor” the driver greeting the bald man, Lex nodded his head in greeting before sliding into the back of the vehicle and waiting to be driven home for a lonely night, only to get up the next day and do battle again in the world of fashion and industry. The whole ride from the _Julian_ and LexCorp office he thought about Clark and the man’s ability to get things done with little to no fuss about it. Kitty made sure he knew when she was doing something, but Clark on the other hand did the work and made no notes about it to him.

“Mr. Luthor” the driver said as he opened the door for Lex in front of a large towering building. His father was good for something; LuthorCorp Urban Living was a piece of beauty in the Metropolis sky line. It stood in the shadows of LuthorCorp and looked like a mini version of the parent company for which had built it. Lex slide out of the car and then made his way towards the building where the penthouse apartment.

“Mr. Luthor” the doorman of the building said as he opened the doors so Lex didn’t have to. Lex walked passed nodding his head in to greeting to everyone that spoke to him. Most only wanting one thing from him and that was his money, it was the same with Kitty as well. How come his thoughts always managed to get back to Clark Kent? Lex shook his head not having an answer to his question.

“Mr. Luthor” a woman said wearing a business outfit with matching 8 inch stiletto heeled shoes. Lex stopped in his route to the elevators which would take him to the penthouse. He would never call the place home since it was furnished with all the things his father wanted in a house.

“Mr. Luthor” the woman called again making the rest of the way towards where Lex stood watching her arrival to where he stood.

“Cat Grant” the woman said before sticking out her hand waiting for Lex to shake her hand.

“Ms. Grant” Lex said before placing his hand into the woman’s and giving her a firm shake of the hand.

“Pleasure to meet you” Cat purred ready to fall into bed with Lex, after all she had just moved here from Los Angeles and so far there were few men that met her standards. She may be a single mother but she did have standards and her standards were Lex Luthor.

“Likewise” Lex said already knowing what the woman wanted with him, he of course didn’t plan to entrain any of the woman’s thoughts on getting him into bed.

“You stay here?” Cat asked while kicking herself for the stupid question she had just asked. Lex just raised his eyebrows as if asking was she really asking that question.

“We should have dinner some time, I’m new to the city and don’t quite know the hot spots here” Cat said hoping that Lex would fall into her scheme, she figured that if she went out enough with him that people would start to speculate on if they were together and in her book being linked to a Luthor made you instantly famous. Something that she had always wanted and always will.

“Hmmm” Lex said already knowing what the woman was thinking, he wasn’t stupid and blind to the gleam in Cat’s eyes.

“Oh, I better go” Cat said after she had received no response to her inquiry about a night on the town with Lex. Lex watched her walk away and he snorted to himself, he may sleep with women but it was only because it served a purpose and that was to close a business deal or to show the public that he really was the playboy that the media had dubbed him. Even though Lex wanted what everyone else in the world wanted, someone to love him unconditionally and to create a family with that person.

“Mr. Luthor” the elevator man greeted Lex before they were soon riding up the elevator to the 20th floor where Lex’s penthouse suite was, it was also the top of the building. The living room had floor to ceiling glass windows, showing off the downtown sky line in its grandeur at night. Lex had an easy dinner and then began to work on some reports that he needed in the business meeting he was to have with the downtown fashion district. He always wanted to be one step ahead of the fashion industry; he wanted to make the next hot item not replicate it. The next morning Lex made his way to the limo that waited for him to arrive and was soon on his way to the LexCorp building, wondering if Kitty had managed to get his coffee this morning instead of Clark. Everyone greeted him as he made his way through the front lobby of the building and then to a bank of elevators. He never acknowledged any of them since they weren’t considered to be on important enough in his world.

“Mr. Luthor” Kitty greeted him as he stepped out of the elevator; it was much too early for him to deal with Kitty and her scheme of becoming the next Mrs. Luthor or the next fashion guru at _Julian_ ; as if *that* would happen.

“Kitty” Lex said not even stopping at her desk to hear what was on the agenda for the day, instead he went straight to his office and noticed that Clark was standing next to his desk with a planner of some sort in his hands and his required cup of coffee sitting on his desk.

“Garrison” Lex said smirking when Clark spoke.

“It’s Clark, sir” Clark corrected automatically before waiting for Lex to sit down and take a sip of his coffee that Clark had gotten on his way to work that morning. The people at Sri Latte were more than happy to see Clark back for a second time to get Lex Luthor’s coffee.

“Hmmm, what’s on the agenda?” Lex asked into the intercom wondering if Kitty would own up to the fact that she had no clue on what was planned for the day.

“Mr. Luthor?” Kitty asked in a worried voice, she had no idea what was on the agenda for Mr. Luthor, she had figured that he wouldn’t ask that of her, he never had before.

“My agenda for the day Kitty” Lex said spelling out what he was looking for. He knew that Clark knew what was planned for the day but he wanted to see what Kitty would say.

“I…..I don’t know” Kitty finally said owning up to the fact before she spoke quickly again, trying to cover her ass on why she didn’t know.

“I was not notified of your agenda by the junior assistant” Kitty said certain this would cover any thoughts Lex had of getting rid of her. After all if she used the excuse that the junior assistant didn’t inform her that made the other look bad. What she failed to realize was that Clark stood in Mr. Luthor’s office and was willing to fight about needing to tell Kitty anything, she didn’t want to know and that would be her downfall.

“Well find Jonathan” Mr. Luthor said looking at Clark and then rolling his eyes, as if they were good friends. Clark had to chuckle at the time that Mr. Luthor was giving Kitty. He of course still detested Mr. Luthor but it was fun to see him give Kitty a hard time.

“Find him” Mr. Luthor said before turning to Clark and speaking.

“What’s on the agenda for the day?”

“Well you have a ten-thirty with a Saki Maramoto, about their latest spring collection; you have a lunch meeting with Mirsha Vaola about her latest hand bags and shoes; you also have a meeting with the fashion district at two-thirty” Clark rattled off not really sure on why Kitty wasn’t doing this, but then again this was a woman that spent most of her day talking on the telephone to her friends.

“I need to have a meeting with my editors today, find a time and book it” Lex said planning out the meeting he planned to have with his editors. He needed to put them on notice that Clark would be doing most of the magazine this year. The man had amazing ideas and then to top it off he could translate it to Arabic should be chose to and he wasn’t bad on the eyes either.

About five minutes later Kitty clicked the intercom on and spoke.

“I can’t seem to find him anywhere, not even in the translations department” Kitty said sounding very smug for someone that did little to no work in an eight hour business day. Mr. Luthor of course wasn’t impressed so he sent her back to search for Clark.

“I told you to find him, not give me excuses” Mr. Luthor said before he spun his chair around and gave Clark a look.

“Go set up the meeting and let me know when you have scheduled it” Mr. Luthor said before spinning back around and clicking away at his computer, while Clark stood there stunned.

“Right” Clark said as if he understood what Mr. Luthor was talking about. He had no clue on who the editors of _Julian_ were but he knew there were a couple of people he could call that might know, only one of them being a safe option to ask. Clark walked out of the office to see that Kitty was nowhere to be found, which had Clark making his way quickly to his desk, should Kitty go looking for him in the one spot he knew she hadn’t checked. Clark sank into his seat and let out a sigh, he had hoped that he would be in and out of Mr. Luthor’s office before he arrived and before Kitty arrived as well, but he had been stuck in the man’s office and now he had his assistant looking for him as if he was missing.

“There *you* are” Kitty said as she made her way towards where Clark sat in his chair looking at the computer screen as he unlocked it.

“Ms. Kowalski” Clark said in greeting to the woman that was the Bain of is his existence along with Lex Luthor.

“I’ve been looking for you, Mr. Luthor was wondering where you were” Kitty said looking very smug about the news she was imparting on him.

“Hmmm” Clark said not looking up to Kitty instead looking through the few e-mails he had received overnight and also sending out an email to Chloe to see if she knew anything about the editors of _Julian_.

“Pay attention when I am talking to you” Kitty said stomping one of her designer covered feet on the floor in front of Clark’s desk.

“What” Clark asked quite tired of dealing with the woman now, and he had a whole day ahead of him to deal with her.

“Mr. Luthor wants to see his agenda” Kitty said smug as a pug, before she turned away from Clark’s desk and made her way to her own desk sitting right outside of Lex Luthor’s office.

“Mr. Luthor, your *junior* assistant is at his desk” Kitty said certain that Clark was going to get yelled at, instead he called Clark’s desk and spoke to the man on the phone; something that seemed to tick Kitty off to no end, if the looks she was giving Clark were any indication.

“Were you able to schedule that meeting, Conner” Lex asked waiting for Clark to correct him.

“It’s Clark sir, and no I have not”

“Get it done” Mr. Luthor said before hanging up and leaving Clark to hear dial tone.

“Sure, I’m right on top of that” Clark said in a snarky tone before noticing that Chloe had already written back.

 


	9. Setting up Meetings, Kitty shows her claws and Lex moves on from Names with the Letter C

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Clark attempts to make appointments at the request of Lex and Kitty shows her claws. Lex on the other hand decides to move on from names that start with letter C.

~ _To:_[ _CJKent@julianmag.lexcorp.com_](mailto:CJKent@julianmag.lexcorp.com)

_From:_ [ _CASullivan@julianmag.lexcorp.com_ ](mailto:CASullivan@julianmag.lexcorp.com)

_Subject: RE: Julian Editors_

_Not a problem, the editors are below._

_Dione Alston            Assistant: Amanda Holland_

_Dianne Frieling         Assistant: Asheighle Hitson_

_Charlotte Winn          Assistant: Leslie Taylor_

_Izabet Trask             Assistant: Kenneth McLerou_

_I would suggest that you contact their admins before setting anything._

_Chloe_

_~To:_ [ _CASullivan@julianmag.lexcorp.com_ ](mailto:CASullivan@julianmag.lexcorp.com)

_From:_ [ _CJKent@julianmag.lexcorp.com_ ](mailto:CJKent@julianmag.lexcorp.com)

_Subject: Julian Editors_

_Chloe I need to ask a favor of you. Do you know who are the editors of Julian are? Mr. Luthor wants to set up a meeting with them for today and I have no idea who they are. I would ask my cousin or friend but I have a feeling that they would pump me for any news in the fashion world, something that I try and avoid as much as possible. I would also ask Kitty but I know better than that._

_~Clark_

“Just what I don’t need an okay from someone’s admin to tell me they are busy” Clark said out loud before printing out the e-mail and then writing the phone numbers of all the people on it, he noticed that the e-mail system they used had an option to “Live Chat” with anyone in the company. So Clark put in the first name of Amanda Holland and got the woman to respond.

~Live Chat Enabled to: [AIHolland@julianmag.lexcorp.com](mailto:AIHolland@julianmag.lexcorp.com)

_CJKent wrote: Amanda, my name is Clark Kent and I am currently Mr. Luthor’s junior assistant_

_AIHolland wrote: Hello, how can I help you?_

_CJKent wrote: Mr. Luthor would like to have a meeting with all of his editors today and I need to set up a time for this_

_AIHolland wrote: The best thing you could do is ask Kitty to help you with this; it’s obvious you don’t know what you are doing_

~Live Chat Ended to: [AIHolland@julianmag.lexcorp.com](mailto:AIHolland@julianmag.lexcorp.com)

After reading the nasty message Clark closed out of it and then began searching in the e-mail system if there was a way to search all of the editor’s schedules along with Mr. Luthor’s to see what was available for everyone.

“What would they call that?” Clark said asking himself before asking the online help the system had. The answer came back as “busy search” and soon Clark was putting each editors name in the search box along with Mr. Luthor’s and came back that all the editors and Mr. Luthor had a spot open at 9:15 to 10:15, it would be cutting things close for Mr. Luthor but there wasn’t anything else that would meet the demands that he knew Mr. Luthor wanted. Clark opened up an appointment schedule e-mail and listed each of the editors along with their assistant and told that Mr. Luthor requires their presence at 9:15 in the Executive Conference Room. Clark quickly received nasty messages back from all the admins that seemed to be on Kitty’s side while all of the editors graciously accepted the spur of the moment meeting, it was how _Julian_ stayed ahead of fashion trends that most magazines had a lag time on.

“William” Lex called out of his office, he had an intercom to only Kitty’s desk but he could see that it might be in his best interest to get then intercom moved over to where Clark sat or remove the person currently sitting at that desk.

“It’s Clark, sir” Clark said locking his computer and taking a pad of paper, already knowing that he wouldn’t be translating zip today.

“Yes, yes of course” Mr. Luthor said waving a hand at the chair that Clark was standing next to.

“Thank you sir” Clark said taking a seat and then waiting for Mr. Luthor to tell him what to do or what needed to be done.

“How goes the project that I gave you?”

“Well Mr. Luthor, I’ve been…” Clark said not really sure on how to say that he had been doing Kitty’s job without sounding nasty about it.

“Doing Kitty’s job?” Mr. Luthor asked, Clark had closed the door once he entered so he knew that Kitty wouldn’t hear, but he certainly wasn’t going to say anything nasty about the woman to their boss.

“Yeah” Clark said relieved that Mr. Luthor had spoken the words and not him.

“I have noticed that she has been doing nothing since before you got here, it was the reason why I had to hired a junior assistant” Mr. Luthor explained, there was just something about the man that sat in the chair in front of him that made him want to explain his actions, something that he had never encountered before.

“I mean…”

“It’s very unpleasant and I find that she spends most of her time on the phone, am I right?”

“From what I see, yes”

“That’s what I thought, now did you manage to schedule that meeting?”

“Yes, just did it. It starts at 9:15 to 10:15; I know it is cutting things close but since you wanted it today that would be the only time you would have available until after the 4:30 hour”

“No, perfect the sooner the better” Mr. Luthor said before looking at the clock and seeing that it was almost time for the meeting.

“I’ll let you go and set up the conference room, Leo” Mr. Luthor said with a straight face until Clark had left the office with his parting shot of:

“It’s Clark, sir” Lex grinned he was becoming fonder of his junior assistant more and more, he was perfect for him, he wasn’t afraid to tell him no, and he certainly wasn’t afraid of telling him about himself, qualities that he found he wanted in a real relationship; and that was where the problem was. The more he liked his junior assistant the more he wanted something more of the life he was living currently, he wanted someone to come home to or to rant at about the incompetence that some of his workers were. He had been trying to shy away from the fact that he was very attracted to his junior assistant but he wanted friendship with the other man before he would even try for something more, and it seemed that his junior assistant was all business. He wasn’t one to linger around his office, like Kitty did trying to chat him up, no instead the man did what he was told and then disappeared until he was needed again.

“Mr. Luthor” Kitty said quickly making her way into his office with being asked and shutting the door.

“Kitty” Mr. Luthor said raising his eyebrows at Kitty and the way that she was acting, as if there was some huge secret that she had the inside goods on.

“Mr. Luthor” Kitty said again before peeking over her shoulder as if expecting the door to open and someone to walk in at any moment.

“I don’t have time for this Kitty, I have a meeting that is starting in ten minutes and you are acting as if something is after you.”

“Uh, sir it’s about the junior assistant” this had Mr. Luthor wondering what she had to say about the man that had just left his office.

“Well what are you waiting for” Mr. Luthor agitated by Kitty and the way she was acting.

“He’s currently at his desk looking at websites that are not company approved” Kitty said certain that her words would send the man packing, she had hoped that with the newly hired assistant she would be able to spend more time with Lex and her plan of becoming the who’s who in the fashion industry as well as the next Mrs. Luthor, her world would be complete.

“And what would that be” Lex was certain that Clark was probably working on the project that he had been given yesterday.

“Hotels in Singapore!” Kitty cried in triumph before Lex knocked her down.

“I told him to do that, and further more stay away from Claus’s desk.” Lex directed to Kitty before striding out of the office and down to the conference room that Clark had already gotten ready for the meeting.

“I swear he’s a boy scout, MacGyver and a Saint, all in one” Lex mumbled to himself before entering the room where all of the editors sat waiting for direction from him.

“I’m going to make this short, sweet and to the point. My junior assistant will be the main contributor to the Wedding Edition of _Julian_ ” Everyone in the room was stunned, the wedding edition was always solely Lex’s responsibility. The only time that they were even required was when the final cut was being made and he needed other’s thoughts on what it was looking like. The Wedding Edition concept binder was under lock and key with only Lex having access to the book. But this, this was something completely different, was his junior assistant really that good?

“I see there are questions” Lex said looking to his most vocal editor, Izabet Trask, the one and only male editor at _Julian_.

“I do not understand. Why *this* junior assistant?” The man asked with his thick Greek accent, most knew that the man could get away with the most that anyone working at _Julian_ and LexCorp could, at least that they knew of.

“Don’t worry about it, just know that you take orders from him and if your assistants are unpleasant to him they will be released immediately. After all I know everything that goes on in this building” Lex said eyeing a few of his editors knowing that they would pass the message onto their assistants. After all it really was in their best interests if they planned to keep a job here.

“Any other questions?” Lex asked before looking at his watch and deciding he had enough of them, so he cut them loose, he would find out soon enough if the editors told their assistants what he had said, after all he did sit in the office that Kitty sat outside of. He could hear each of her conversations, and he knew that Kitty had called a few of the assistants to let them know that they should give Clark a hard time if he ever needed to schedule anything with them.

“Go on, I’ve got a meeting to get to” Lex said before strolling out of the conference room and right back into his office where he closed the door and began getting ready for his 10:30.

“Mr. Luthor” Kitty called out on the intercom concerned over why Lex had closed his door as soon as he arrived.

“Kitty, I don’t have time for this” Lex said curtly before ending the call that Kitty had made. Kitty wasn’t happy when Lex ended her communication with him, so instead of yelling at Lex and made her way over to where Clark sat looking at hotels in Singapore and locations for where a beautiful ceremony could be held.

“You” Kitty said walking over to where Clark sat, a look that told Clark he was in for hearing a long rant from the woman about something that she felt he wasn’t doing or doing right. It was just as Kitty stood right in front of Clark’s desk that his Land line phone began to ring. Clark quickly checked the caller ID and saw that it was Mr. Luthor calling.

“Mr. Luthor” Clark said picking up the phone quickly, wanting to not have to deal with Kitty. He knew that this would slow her down; after all she didn’t want to upset the man that was keeping her employed. Kitty eyed Clark and then the phone, was there a possibility that he was lying?

“Set up a meeting with the dress makers of your choosing for the Wedding Edition” Lex said before hanging up the phone and that was when Kitty could hear Lex calling for her on the intercom system.

“Thank you Mr. Luthor” Clark said before he began looking on his desk to see that there seemed to be an empty three ring binder that looked specially made for _Julian_ and the Wedding Edition of the magazine. Clark grabbed the binder and noticed that it had a front pocket that would allow you to put a sheet of paper in to show off what the binder was for.

“Down stairs to get my notebook” Clark said to himself, he had left pretty much as much as he could down in the basement and his cube, with the thought that Mr. Luthor would tire of him and would send him back down to his ‘hole’ but that had yet to happen so Clark figured he might want to get the few things he had down there up here, that way on his down time he could work on the translations that he knew Chloe would be yelling at him for. Clark locked his computer and then made his way towards the elevators noticing that Kitty seemed to be in some sort of conversation with one of her friends and she didn’t look happy. Clark was quick to squeak out of the 20th floor and back down to where he was certain he really belonged, knowing that Kitty would rip into him just as soon as she got off the phone.

“Clark” Tim, one of the translators that translated French said with a shocked look on his face. He had figured that Clark like every other junior assistant had been eaten alive and left for dead, of course he knew all about the scene that Clark and Mr. Luthor had made in the lobby just the other day but he didn’t figure that Clark would be standing in front of him looking quite well.

“Hey Tim” Clark greeted going over to his cube and seeing the pile of work that Chloe had continued to pile on his desk.

“Thanks Chloe” Clark mumbled before getting a few items from his desk and then grabbing the large pile of paper as well as his ‘handy dandy notebook’ as his mother and father referred to it as, they had seen one episode of Blue’s Clues and decided that since he usually always carried a notebook around that it would be his ‘handy dandy notebook’.

“What you doing down here” Tim said having followed Clark as he made his way to his cube.

“Just getting a few things” Clark said pointing to the few personal items sitting on his desk.

“That’s just too bad” Tim said assuming that Clark had been fired, like most of the assistant that had been hired before Clark. Clark gave the man a look before he saw Chloe making her way over to the pair of them.

“Clark Kent!” Chloe shouted as she saw her most favorite translator, he may have been here a short time but he was the only one in the department and the magazine that she could relate to, after all her father still lived and worked in Smallville, and she herself had visited a time or two.

“Hey Chloe” Clark said before he was tugged into a hug all the while Tim watched shocked, no one had been able to get that close to their director and many had tried after all Chloe wasn’t bad on the eyes and since most of them were considered ‘pencil protectors nerds’ in the building as well as most of the building workers had no clue on what they did. Even the IT department was held in higher regard then they were.

“You back down here?” Chloe asked hopeful that she had her Arabic translator back on a full time basis.

“You know the answer to that” Clark said before picking up the stacks of paper and looking around for the cart that he knew was hanging around the place.

“Here” Tim said shocked before jogging over and getting the cart and then watching as Clark filled it up with what was clearly work.

“I swear” Chloe huffed before watching Clark and then shooing Tim away, she knew that if there was one gossip in the office it was Tim, soon enough the office would be coming over trying to find out what was going on.

“I can’t wait until the weekend” Clark commented before finishing up the small load of items that he would be taking with him.

“I’m coming with you” Chloe stated before going and closing her door and then making her way over to where Clark stood waiting for her. Maybe just maybe she would be able to talk Mr. Luthor out of keeping him up there on the 20th floor, he hated heights and that was a far, far way up for him; a bit too far if you asked him. Clark shook his head before the pair made their way out of the basement and up to the 20th floor where Kitty was waiting for Clark to return. She had been told by Mr. Luthor that she had to stay out the junior assistant’s way or fear being fired. She knew that Mr. Luthor had no bite to his bark but she would make sure that once the junior assistant arrived back that she was the one calling the shoot for Mr. Luthor, not him. Kitty mouth opened before she saw Chloe, she wasn’t in any way afraid of Chloe but she knew better than to ruffle the woman’s feather, she was one of the people that Mr. Luthor usually listened to on a consistence basis.

“Where were you?” Kitty said not even bothering to look at the cart that Clark was pushing with stacks of paper in it.

“In the translation department” Clark said honestly before moving past the woman and going towards his tiny desk. There was just something wrong with this, he would need much more space than what he had currently if they thought he was going to two jobs at the same time. Kitty smirked, she had him now, Mr. Luthor had been looking for him and there he was, down in a department he had no business being in; oh the trouble this would cause for the man. Kitty swung around and sashayed towards where Mr. Luthor sat glaring at his computer, angry that his junior assistant was nowhere to be found. He was to be at the 10:30 and it was now 11 and Saki Maramoto had yet to show, he always did run late.

“Mr. Luthor” Kitty called through the intercom now happily at her desk, she just couldn’t wait for the shit to hit the fan on this one.

“What Kitty” Mr. Luthor said stressed, he just couldn’t believe his junior assistant, didn’t he understand he was to have his cell phone with him at all points in time.

“I have found the junior assistant” Kitty said in glee, she just wouldn’t wait for the fireworks. She knew Mr. Luthor would yell and scream and then fire the latest junior assistant and she could go back to being the favorite, little did she know she had never been the favorite. Never had been, never would be.

“Send him to my office, now!” Mr. Luthor demanded before leaning back in his chair, how was he going to handle this? The man better had a good excuse for not answering his cell phone and not being at his desk.

“Mr. Luthor wants to talk to you” Kitty all but purred as he glared at Clark. Clark pushed his cart to his desk and then made his way to Mr. Luthor’s desk. Maybe he could get fired and work on a contract basis, it seemed to be a good idea that he had been throwing around as of late.

“Clarence” Mr. Luthor greeted Clark, waiting for the always correction.

“It’s Clark, sir” Clark said shifting foot-to-foot, he felt like he was back in elementary school, being sent to the principal’s office for some reason.

“Yes, yes….where were you and why did you not answer my calls” Mr. Luthor asked, which had Chloe and Kitty both amazed that the man was asking and not screaming demands at him as he tended to do with the rest of the staff that work for _Julian_ and LexCorp.

“I was getting my things from my cubie in the translation department” Clark explained looking the man in the eye, not afraid of him or what he could do to Clark. At the moment he was working contract at the county hospital, so he was more than compensated for what he did for the hospital. Mr. Luthor eyed Clark not at all happy with the words that he spoke. He was to be *here* he was after all *his* junior assistant.

“Just make sure this doesn’t happen again” Mr. Luthor barked out before shooing Clark out of the office and back to his desk where Chloe stood stunned, she along with Kitty they had heard Mr. Luthor’s words and they were nothing that either one expected.

“Wow, just wow” Chloe whispered to Clark as he unloaded the cart and that was when Clark, Chloe and Kitty heard the ding of the elevator.

“Mr. Luthor’s 10:30” Clark said before watching as Kitty scuttled over to the elevator to greet Mr. Saki Maramoto, Japan’s most cutting edge designer for wedding and common clothing.

“Saki Maramoto” Chloe said stunned she had heard rumors that the man was in town, but she hadn’t put much stock into the words since they were told by Cat Grant at the _Daily Planet_ , who nine times out of ten the information was incorrect.

“Yeah, what’s the problem” Clark said watching as Kitty broke etiquette rule after etiquette rule with the man standing in front of her with dark sun glasses on his face.

“Let me save this” Clark mumbled before heading over to where Mr. Maramoto stood glaring at Kitty as she insulted him more and more.

“Kitty leave” Clark demanded before bowing and speaking to the man in Japanese. Kitty stood there stunned the junior assistant had just told her what to do. Kitty stomped off figuring that Clark would botch things up and she would be needed to clear things up.

“Right this way” Clark said in English before guiding the impressed Japanese man to where Mr. Luthor waited angry at both his junior assistant and himself for actually caring and worrying about where the man had been.

“Mr. Luthor, Mr. Maramoto” Clark introduced before waiting Mr. Luthor greet the man and then getting down to work on the fashions that the man had created for the upcoming spring collection.

“Calvin” Mr. Luthor said before Clark could make his way out of the room, and in standard fashion Clark corrected the man.

“It’s Clark, sir” Clark said turning around and seeing that Mr. Luthor looked almost amused by his words.

“Take notes” Mr. Luthor demanded before Clark left and came back with his notepad and then began writing high points of the meeting or what he thought was a high point of the meeting. The meeting was by far the shortest one Clark had ever been in; it seemed that the man would come back in a few weeks when his entire line was complete.

“Kevin will set up a day and time” Mr. Luthor stated before listening to Clark correct him again and then guiding the Japanese fashion designer of the office and over to where his desk was literally swimming with paper. Clark spoke to the man in Japanese and asked if it was alright if he called and got a time later on. The man was more than happy to agree to Clark’s words, this had been the first time that someone hadn’t insulted him when he had come to speak to Mr. Luthor. Mr. Luthor never broke etiquette but it seemed his assistant had no clue, which wasn’t a surprise since she looked like a child of ‘new money’ or as they referred to it in Japan as ‘atarashii money’. Once the man breezed into the elevator, Kitty was up and making her way over to where Clark stood looking over his desk and how he planned to get anything done.

“You…you” Kitty said shaking her finger at Clark, by now Chloe had made her way back to the translation department defeated that Clark would never return to them. She could only hope that she would be able to fit a meeting into Mr. Luthor’s schedule to explain to him that he would need to up Clark’s salary if he hadn’t done so already. Clark looked up and saw who it was and then went back to wading through the items on his desk.

“You listen here” Kitty started up before Mr. Luthor walked out of his office jacket in hand, ready to make his way to the café where he would be meeting his lunch appointment.

“Trevor, Kitty” Mr. Luthor addressed them before seeing the large pile of papers on Clark’s desk.

“What is that?” Mr. Luthor said raising an eyebrow to Clark.

“Articles that need to be translated” Clark stated before pushing a stack to the side and finding what he had been looking for.

“You are the junior assistant; give that to the translation department. I hear they have an Arabic translator now” Mr. Luthor said not really realizing that he was speaking to said Arabic translator.

“I am the Arabic translator” Clark stated frustrated with Mr. Luthor’s lack of care about what he was and was not. Mr. Luthor stood there eyeing Clark as if he was lying to the man about being the Arabic translator.

“Mr. Luthor” Kitty said coming over to where Clark and Mr. Luthor stood staring at the pile of papers on Clark’s desk.

“What is it Kitty” Lex said before placing his left palm of his hand over his eyes.

“I just…” Kitty stopped what she was talking about when she realized that it seemed that Mr. Luthor was very unhappy about something and it looked to deal with the junior assistant.

“Nothing” Kitty said quickly before backing up and standing just outside of seeing range for Mr. Luthor.

“You’re the Arabic translator?” Mr. Luthor asked, for some reason he sort of remembered that but now being told again it brought up lots of questions that he already knew the answer to.

“I am” Clark confirmed before he noticed that Mr. Luthor would be late to his lunch appointment if he didn’t hurry.

“Your lunch appointment” Clark reminded the bald man hoping that it would get the man out of the building and away from him before he snapped at the man and then lose his job, although that was sounding better and better at every minute that ticked by. The weekend couldn’t come fast enough for him; he could make it through just a few more hours before the weekend would begin.

“Yes, yes how could I forget?” Mr. Luthor said letting the subject drop since it seemed that the topic bothered his junior assistant; he would bring it up later. Clark was finally able to breathe once he saw Mr. Luthor get on the elevator and make his way to the restaurant that he had picked out for the meeting.

“You” Kitty said once she was certain that Mr. Luthor wouldn’t arrive back to grab something that he forgot, as if the man ever forgot anything.

“What” Clark said having been unlucky enough to not get ragged on by Kitty while Mr. Luthor was out at his appointment.

“Don’t think that you run anything here, this is my show” Kitty started out, once Clark could tell she was going to go into a long winded story of how the world worked on the 20th floor, Clark began sorting through his piles while listening to Kitty with half an ear. The woman didn’t seem to notice and when the telephone rang at her desk she was in mid-rant about how Clark was going to bring anything and everything for her approval.

“I’m not done with you” Kitty warned before making her way over to her desk and then picking up the phone when she saw it was one of her friends.

“Whatever” Clark mumbled while he sorted through his stacks, how was he going to get anything done? There was just so much of it, and only so many hours in a day.

“I’m going to lunch” Kitty stated a designer bag in her hand and a pair of sunglasses already on her face. She truly did look like the type of assistant that Mr. Luthor would have. Clark looked dumpy in comparison.

“Don’t you even dare leave” Kitty growled out before stepping on the elevator and riding it down to the first floor so she could go to lunch with one of her friends that worked in a nearby building. Clark watched her go waiting to be certain that she wouldn’t come back.

“I hate this job” Clark groaned out knowing that he was the only one on the floor. Clark looked at the work and decided that he would do the easy thing first, so that meant he was free to translate to his heart’s content. For the next hour and a half Clark worked on translating a large bunch of article for the coming edition of _Julian_ , Clark was actually quite proud of himself since had gotten most of the articles completed and they were now waiting to get turned over to Chloe so that she could get them to the printing press.

 


	10. Clark reaches the end of his Rope

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Clark tires of Lex and Kitty and Julian in general.

~Bing!~

Clark looked up wondering who was coming to the 20th floor, after all only a few people had access to the floor during work hours and even less when not work hours. Clark wanted to groan when he saw who it was; it seemed that Mr. Luthor had beaten Kitty back from lunch something that he was certain that Mr. Luthor took notice of. She was well over her hour limit for lunch, as if she worked throughout the day anyway and deserved a lunch to begin with.

“Jorge” Mr. Luthor greeted Clark noticing that Kitty wasn’t there and looked to have not been there for quite a while.

“Where’s Kitty?” Mr. Luthor enquired before Clark spoke.

“It’s Clark, sir and Kitty went to lunch”

“Hmmm” Mr. Luthor said before going into his office and making a note in Kitty’s file that he had been working on since the woman had been given to him by his father. The woman may have friends in HR but he was the owner and president of the company and if they planned to have a job they would do as they were told.

“Had you had lunch?” Mr. Luthor said after he had written that Kitty was taking extended lunches.

“Uh, no sir” Clark said before noticing that the bald man had come out of his office and now stood in front of Clark’s desk.

“Unacceptable” Mr. Luthor stated as if that would make the situation any better, with Kitty gone he wasn’t allowed to go anywhere just in case someone called or came up to speak with Mr. Luthor.

“And what is this?” Mr. Luthor said pointing to the now full cart that he had brought up before Mr. Luthor had gone to lunch, Clark had hoped that the man would have stayed in his office at least until Kitty came back so he could walk his translated articles back down to Chloe.

“Uh, the articles that needed to be translated” Clark said figuring that lying to the man would only get him into more trouble than he currently was if the look on Mr. Luthor’s face meant anything.

“Didn’t I tell you that they needed to be in the translation department?”

“You did, but I also told you that the Arabic translator was myself” Clark said already tired of dealing with the man standing in front of him. How many times did he have to correct the man about his name and how many more times did he need to explain that he was the Arabic translator? Mr. Luthor was about to open his mouth to speak when the bing of the elevator went off and Kitty stepped out with a few bags in her hands and her sunglasses still firmly placed on her face.

“Kitty” Mr. Luthor said turning a bit and eyeing the woman standing by the elevators with a shocked look on her face.

“Mr. Lu….Luthor”

“Kitty is there a reason that you have been gone well over the allotted hour?” Kitty glared at Clark as if he was the one that told that she had been gone as long as she had been.

“I….it…I…” Kitty said at a loss as to what to say to Mr. Luthor, she knew that things could get messy should she arrive after Mr. Luthor had but she figured since the man was having a lunch meeting with one of his favorite shoe and bag designer that it would take him pretty much to the 2 o’clock hour which would mean that he would be leaving soon after to go to the meeting for the Fashion district meeting that was at 2:30. She had after all looked at the calendar and noticed the appointments so she had figured that Mr. Luthor wouldn’t be back to his office until he was finished with his 2:30, seems she had guessed wrong. Mr. Luthor stood there unimpressed with Kitty before he turned away from the woman and back to Clark who hadn’t made a move since the two had arrived back from their lunches.

“Jerome take those back to the translation department” Mr. Luthor said a serious look on his face, he was really going to have to have a serious chat with his junior assistant along with Chloe Sullivan to get things figured out. He had no doubt that the man could translate after all Saki Maramoto had called him and told him about his assistant that spoke to him in Japanese and he could guarantee that it wasn’t Kitty.

“It’s Clark, sir” Clark said before locking his computer and grabbing the cart and then making his way to the elevator happy to be leaving the floor.

“Straight there and straight back” Mr. Luthor warned as Clark stepped on the elevator. Once the doors were closed did Clark speak knowing that the other man couldn’t hear him.

“I don’t think so” Clark said before riding the rest of the way to the below ground floor that the translation department was on.

“Clark bar” Chloe said speeding out of the office once she heard the squeaky wheel of the cart that Clark had taken up with him.

“All done” Clark said before going over to his old cubie and sinking down into the chair that was still stationed there.

“That bad?”

“Worse” Clark said with his eyes closed about ready to pass out from hunger or sleep he wasn’t sure, but either way it went he didn’t want to return to the 20th at all for the rest of the day.

“I swear” Chloe said before going to her office and grabbing a soda for Clark, she hope the other man dunk them; he needed sugar after all.

“Here” Chloe said hanging over the soda and watching as Clark opened it and drunk the whole thing down in one sip.

“Thirsty” Chloe joked before pulling up another chair waiting for the other man to leave the department; after all he probably had orders to return ASAP.

“I’m not going back, I’m on lunch” Clark said before turning to Chloe a grin on his face.

“A must, after all I know Kitty got a lunch and so did Mr. Luthor” Chloe said getting what Clark was saying, which meant that if Mr. Luthor came a knocking she could say that he was there with her.

“Right” Clark agreed before Chloe changed the subject entirely.

“So when do the ‘rents arrive?”

“They should be here already; or they should be leaving either later on tonight or super early tomorrow morning”

“Don’t forget”

“Strawberries, and be glad that our farm is one of the only in the area that has year round strawberries and organic ones at that”

“I know, I’ve been bribed a time or two by my father to do something that I wouldn’t normally do for those babies”

“Well then, come down to the Market and mom will have your basket waiting for you”

“Sweet deal and as if I would pass up the chance to meet the parents of my most favorite worker in the department, but don’t tell them that I said that.” Chloe said loud enough that everyone in the department could hear her words. The workers laughed before getting back down to work while Clark and Chloe chatted about a few things.

~Ring, Ring~ the phone on the desk where Clark sat at rang, most stopped what they were doing to see what was going on. It was no secret in the department that Clark had been ‘summoned’ up to the 20th floor and had never returned, his potion of translator tossed aside to be Mr. Luthor’s junior assistant.

“Can I get a break” Clark told the phone as if it would answer him; Chloe decided to help Clark out just a bit, so she told Clark not to speak and she picked up the phone and then spoke to the man on the other side of the phone.

“Mr. Luthor” Chloe greeted the man knowing that the next words out of his mouth would be about the location of Clark. If Chloe didn’t know any better she would think that Mr. Luthor may have a bit of a crush on Clark, as if it wasn’t hard to do.

“Where’s Jake” Mr. Luthor asked the blonde knowing that Clark had to be down there since he had already called security to see if they had seen the man.

“I don’t know a Jake, sir” Chloe said playing the dumb blonde card and wondering if Mr. Luthor would believe her of not.

“You know who I’m speaking about” Mr. Luthor said with a bit of a growl, he knew exactly what Chloe was doing and it wasn’t going to work.

“Clark is at lunch” Chloe stated since it seemed her ‘dumb blonde’ routine didn’t work.

“I didn’t authorize that”

“It’s a federal rule” Chloe said a nasty tone to her voice, did this man think he could do whatever he wanted to Clark and get away with it?

“Where is he?”

“At lunch, he’ll be back” Chloe said hanging up the phone and then leading Clark into her office knowing that Mr. Luthor was on his way down to the department as they moved locations.

“Can the man leave me be for five minutes?” Clark grouched before smiling at Chloe when she handed over some junk food that was loaded with sugar, fat and other items that his mother would have a stroke over.

“Mr. Luthor”

“Mr. Luthor”

“Mr. Luthor” Clark and Chloe both heard as the man in question made his way over to where Chloe’s door stood open showing that Clark was in fact sitting in her office with sugary treats surrounding him with Chloe tapping away at something work related.

“Harold” Mr. Luthor greeted to Clark before the other man looked at Mr. Luthor and then continued to eat what was in this mouth and Chloe spoke.

“It’s Clark” Chloe said before tapping away at the keys of her computer. Mr. Luthor watched the pair before deciding that he didn’t like how friendly the pair of them were, Clark was *his* and no one else’s.

“Yes, whatever. Didn’t I tell you to come right back?” Clark said nothing uncertain on what to say.

“Well, I’m waiting” Mr. Luthor said waiting for an answer.

“You did….” Clark didn’t get to say anymore before Mr. Luthor jumped in.

“I did and why are you here sitting on Ms. Sullivan’s couch with junk food surrounding you?” Mr. Luthor said a sneer on his face at seeing the food that seems to orbit around Clark.

“I’m at lunch” Clark said now about ready to snap the man’s head off, was he looking to get told off again?

“And as I told Ms. Sullivan, I didn’t approve it so you were to return back to your desk”

“I did” Clark said now being smart; he had returned to his desk just not the desk on the 20th floor.

“No you haven’t” Mr. Luthor said not realizing that he was walking into his own grave on this one.

“No let me show you” Clark said before he saw the smirk that made its way to Mr. Luthor’s face, Chloe had a smirk of her own and winked to him once he began leading Mr. Luthor to his cubie.

“Here we are” Clark said getting to his desk; it even had his name on the outside of the cube. Mr. Luthor was decidedly unhappy with Clark and his actions.

“My office now” Mr. Luthor said making his way towards the door to the department before turning and noticing that Clark hadn’t followed him like he thought he would have. Mr. Luthor prowled over to where he could see part of Clark’s body standing in the doorway of Chloe’s office.

“Saturday at the Farmer’s Market….you know where we’ll be” Mr. Luthor heard Clark say before he cleared his throat to make sure that he had Clark’s attention.

“Mr. Luthor”

“My office, now….not later” Mr. Luthor said before waiting for Clark to get in front of him and then following the man to the door of the department and then to the elevators and then of course straight to Mr. Luthor’s office where Kitty sat outside of a wide smile on her face and here she thought she was in trouble.

“Sit” Mr. Luthor said pointing to the chair and then taking a seat himself. Clark took a seat and about wanted to roll his eyes when Mr. Luthor took a seat at his desk and folded his arms in front of him on his desk. Like he was some wayward school boy getting scolded by the principal.

“Now Caylin” Mr. Luthor started out, waiting for Clark to correct him. Instead Clark sat there zoning out about when his parents would arrive and how best to tell them that he would be quitting his job at _Julian_ , he was tired of the job already. He hoped that they wouldn’t be too disappointed but he figured they could understand his reasons for leaving. He wasn’t junior assistant material and he certainly hadn’t signed up for the work that he was being given. After all he had a Bachelors of Science in Language Studies with an emphasis on Arabic, Japanese and Italian, with a minor in history; he was the first and only student at Stanford University that had accomplished the feat, and Stanford was a place that excelled in excellence. Mr. Luthor waited for Clark to correct him; it was then that he noticed that his assistant wasn’t even paying any attention to him.

“Michael” Mr. Luthor out hoping to get some sort of response from Clark, it seemed that Clark finally snapped out of whatever he had been thinking and automatically corrected Mr. Luthor on his name.

“It’s Clark, sir” Clark said before he saw the look of confusion on the man’s face, had he been that zoned out?

“Yes, yes…whatever. I am very disappointed in you. I had hoped that you would understand the importance of your position.” Mr. Luthor started out knowing that Clark would feel guilty if he played the ‘there are people that would kill for this position’ card that he knew would get some sort of response out of Clark. Clark said nothing knowing that Mr. Luthor wasn’t finished with speaking, he could see where the man was going and he was just waiting to burst the man’s bubble. He didn’t want this job, it hadn’t been what he had been hired for and so trying to make him feel bad would only backfire on the bald man.

“There are hundreds and possibly thousands that would kill for the job you have” Mr. Luthor said giving Clark a look that told him how important the job really was.

“And yet you decide to disobey me and not return ASAP as I told you to do”

“I was…” Clark started to say before Mr. Luthor raised his hand and Clark stopped speaking. Fine, he could talk all he wanted but the bottom line was that it wasn’t his concern.

“I need you here not down in the translation department, end of story” Mr. Luthor said realizing that he would need to leave soon for the fashion district meeting he was speaking at.

“Be here when I get back and we will discuss this further” Mr. Luthor said before pointing to the door and then watching as Clark stood up and made his way out of the office and to his desk that seemed to have a large pile of work that hadn’t been there before.

“Get to work, loser” Kitty called across to him just before Mr. Luthor exited his office with his coat back in his hands.

“I expect you both to be here when I return” Mr. Luthor said before eyeing Clark as if daring him to not be at his desk when the other man came back. Clark paid the look no mind and slumped into the chair at the desk, he wasn’t going to call it his any longer because he had decided to quit. Chloe would be angry but he knew that the hospital would be more than happy to hire him back and he was pretty sure Chloe would work up some contract deal for him to do the _Julian_ translations not on LexCorp’s property. Mr. Luthor left with a glare to Kitty and a significant look to Clark.

“Whatever” Clark mumbled before pushing around some of the papers and seeing what Kitty had given to him while he had been away from the desk.

“Look more appointments and more crap” Clark said to himself before deciding to at least try and work on the more important meetings that seemed to need special attention.

“I’m so out of here” Clark said before picking up the phone and speaking quickly to someone that was so not speaking English. Kitty glared at Clark for a bit before deciding she had better things she could be doing like looking at the latest release of Jimmy Choo shoes. For the next two hours Clark made appointment after appointment and logging them into the shared calendar that Mr. Luthor, Kitty and he had while Kitty shopped for shoes and as always talked on the phone to her friends inside and outside of the building.

“I’m finished” Clark said finally happy that he had cleared all of the mess that Kitty had left on his desk. It was then that the bing of the elevator went off with Kitty waiting in anticipation on it being Mr. Luthor, while Clark dreaded the thought of having to deal with the bald man for much longer. He had a total of 30 minutes before he could leave for the day and what would probably be the last day in the building. He would turn in his resignation letter to Chloe over the weekend.

“Mr. Luthor” Kitty greeted the man which had Clark slumping into the chair even more. He so hoped the man would just leave him alone for the last 30 minutes of the day.

“Kitty, have my appointments been set up for next week” Mr. Luthor asked Kitty as if she had set them up herself.

“Yes sir, they’re in the calendar” Kitty said proud, taking the glory for the appointments even though she had no idea what half of them were even about.

“Hmm” Mr. Luthor said before entering his office and then logging onto his computer. He looked the appointments over and noticed that they were set up the same way that the others had. It seemed that Kitty had given the junior assistant something that he had told her specifically to do. He would have to speak to her about that soon, after all the junior assistant was going to be busy doing the Wedding Edition of _Julian_ , he wouldn’t have time to be making appointments and other things that were Kitty’s job to do.

“Casey” Mr. Luthor called out sitting behind his desk ready to complete the conversation he was having with the junior assistant.

“To your doom loser” Kitty snarked before smirking at Clark and then continued looking at a pair of shoes that ‘daddy’ would just have to buy her. Clark sighed before entering the office and taking a seat in front of Mr. Luthor’s desk. Mr. Luthor eyed the man before him and had to wonder if he was putting too much on the man, he never complained so that must have meant that he was okay with the works he was being given.

“Now Casey”

“It’s Clark, sir” Clark said keeping his tone even, even though he wanted nothing more than to cuss the man out and make his way, with his things and never to return to the building again.

“Yes, of course” Mr. Luthor said a bit of humor in his eyes, most assistants by this time would have given up being called by their name, but not this one. No this one was with him step for step.

“As you know I am very disappointed in you for not doing as you were told. You should have cleared your lunch with me before going on it. Do you understand?”

“Yeah, sure….do I have to get approval to go pee too?” Clark said not biting his tongue on this one, he was tired of being Mr. Luthor’s go to guy since his current assistant was incompetent. Mr. Luthor raised his eye brows, surprised at Clark’s words.

“You do” Mr. Luthor said keeping up step for step with Clark.

“So why don’t you do that to Kitty? She forever not at her desk”

“That is a luxury that Kitty has for being my assistant”

“I see, so you treat the junior assistant like scum, no wonder people always quit”

“Clive”

“It’s *Clark*, sir” Clark said putting emphasis on his name, and then checking his watch to see that he had ten minutes before he could leave.

“And you leave when I tell you to” Mr. Luthor said noticing that Clark was looking at his watch; it just wouldn’t do for the man to leave without notifying him of the fact. Clark looked up stunned, so this was how things were going to play out. Forget giving a letter to Chloe over the weekend, he was quitting now. He had been putting in 12 to 13 hour days for this man and he had enough nerve to tell him when he could eat, pee and leave.

“Then consider this my notification….I quit” Clark said before standing up and making his way to the door of the office and then going over to the desk he had been placed and grabbing the few things he had brought to work; which was a coffee cup, a photo of his parents, cousin and a few friends. Once Clark had gathered his things he took the badge from around his neck and placed it on the desk long with placing the cell phone that had been his pocket on the desk as well and then made his way over to the elevators and pressed the down button. Kitty never noticed that Clark had left his badge, keys and cell phone on the desk and that said man was making his way now down to the 1st floor to exit the building. Clark’s whole ride home he fumed over the words that Mr. Luthor had spoken.

“Just isn’t going to happen” Clark said pulling into his parking spot at his apartment complex and noticing that his father’s truck was sitting in a visitor’s parking spot.

“Thank goodness” Clark said before getting out of his car, items in hand and then making his way towards his apartment where he was certain his parents would be.

“Clark, honey” Martha greeted her son as he made his way through the apartment door.

“What’s wrong” Martha said noticing right away that something was going on, her son looked as if he hadn’t got a good night’s sleep in a long time.

“I quit _Julian_ today” Clark said waiting for either of his parents to scold him for doing so.

“Good”

“About time if you ask me” Jonathan Kent said from the living area where the TV was on and he seemed to be watching some kind of basketball game.

“You’re not disappointed?”

“Honey, why would we be disappointed in you? You are much better than being some assistant to as ass like Lex Luthor” Martha explained, when she had heard that her baby had an interview at the magazine she had worried that Clark wouldn’t be chosen due to their high standards for personnel, but when Clark had come home raving about the department director, she held out some hope that things would work out for Clark. She knew her son hated working at the hospital, but it seemed he went from one bad situation to the next, only this time he had the eyes of a Luthor on him.

“You’re really not disappointed”

“No, now come here son. You’re missing a good game” Jonathan said by way of changing the subject. For the rest of the evening the Kent family planned out when they would arrive to the Farmer’s Market and how things would work out.

“We got money on the way here” Jonathan said showing Clark the large wad of money that were small bills and loose change.

“Here” Clark said jogging into his room and grabbing a small cash box that he had kept from an event that he had been participating in while at Stanford.

“Excellent” Martha said before grabbing the money from Jonathan and loading up the cash box and then placing it near the front door so that they could grab it on the way out.


	11. Farmer's Market Revelations

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which a few revelations are made for a certain Mr. Luthor

~Metropolis Famer’s Market~

“What’s the stall number?” Jonathan asked again as he was on the back side of shed 1, looking for the parking spot for them to park in.

“One oh eight” Clark said before pointing to an empty spot towards the middle of the shed.

“Finally” Jonathan said once he parked the truck with the back end towards the covered part of the shed. It was nippy out there but they had brought something that would keep them warm while the residence of Metropolis shopped for fresh fruits and vegetables.

“Let’s get set up then” Martha said noticing that some of the sellers where giving them funny looks. Once the stall had been set up it had just gone on the eight o’clock hour, the official time that the Farmer’s Market opened. Soon after the sheds opened many made their way down the sidewalks on both side of the sheds, picking out the freshest and cheapest items.

“Honey” Martha said having a hard time keeping up with the demands that their stall was receiving. It seemed that they had been shown on the local news in Metropolis about how they grew fruits and vegetables year round and top things off they were organic and that if you ordered strawberries from the farm that you would actually receive the best testing strawberries there were in the county and probably the state.

“Yeah” Jonathan said grabbing a few more boxes from the back of the truck, since they had ran out much quicker than they thought that would.

“Never mind” Martha once she saw Clark take some of the load off of her as she sold the items that they brought to the market.

“Clark Kent!” A bubbly woman with blonde hair said as she made her way through the crowd, it seemed that it was a good turnout for their first time.

“Hey Chloe” Clark said smiling before handing over the change for the bill that the person gave him.

“Where’s my payment”? Chloe said making her fingers into a gun and ‘shooting’ Clark with it.

“Here you go Mistress Chloe” Clark joked handing over the basket his mother had put aside for Chloe but then he noticed a bald head making its way over to where he stood.

“No, no, no” Clark said shaking his head, this so couldn’t be happening.

“What”

“I quit yesterday”

“What do you mean you quit?”

“I’m not going to be treated like some wayward child that needs approval for any and everything I do. He had enough nerve to tell me that he had to okay when I went to the bathroom and when I could leave for the day. I was already working 12 to 13 hour shifts and now he wants to act like he has control over when and how long I work”

“Clark” Chloe warned wanting to help Clark understand that you didn’t quit until Lex Luthor told you to quit.

“No, and now here he comes?”

“Clark, be careful with Mr. Luthor. He can and probably will ruin your life”

“He’s done that already” Clark said quickly before Mr. Luthor pushed his way through the crowd, he needed to speak to *his* junior assistant, he wasn’t allowed to quit on him. No he was only allowed to leave until he said so.

“Kal” Mr. Luthor greeted Clark before noticing that he was here with his parents it seemed.

“It’s Clark” that seemed to catch Martha’s attention, so it seemed that Lex Luthor decided to visit the Metropolis Farmer’s Market.

“We need to talk” Mr. Luthor said as if expecting Clark to drop everything he was doing to follow the man so that they could speak.

“I’m busy and this is my time not work time and there is nothing to talk about, I no longer work for you” Clark said handing over some change to a woman that had been back to their booth at least three times and each time having Clark wait on her. Lex glared at the woman, he could see she was drooling over Clark and no one could do that.

“I said”

“I don’t care what you said. I don’t work for you anymore and it is Saturday *my time*” Clark said before asking a small little girl if she wanted to taste a strawberry.

“Cullen”

“It’s Clark and if you can’t even bother to know my name then there is nothing for us to discuss. I would think that you would know the person’s name that works for you. You seem to know Kitty’s just fine” Clark kept talking as he placed a quart of strawberries in a bag for the little girl that he had given one to.

“Clark dear” Martha said now swimming with people as they demanded things.

“Leave me alone, I’ve got work to do” Clark said walking down to where his mother stood trying to help five people at once. Mr. Luthor stood there stunned no one not even his father could get away with what Clark had just said and did.

“Now you come back here” Lex demanded watching as Clark ignored him in favor of helping out three people that wanted something from the stall.

“Well if he wants to play that way” Lex said before going over looking intent on talking to Clark even if that meant buying produce from the stall.

“I said leave me alone”

“Is that any way to treat a customer?” Lex threw back at Clark, while Chloe, Jonathan and Martha watched the byplay figuring out quickly that Lex Luthor was in heavy like with Clark, while Clark couldn’t stand the man.

“Whatever” Clark said handing over some bags to a group of Asian women that couldn’t seem to stop giggling the whole time that Clark helped them.

“Zŏu Kāi, ta bāng zhù wŏ (Go away, he’s helping me)” Lex said watching as the women looked at him in surprise before eyeing Clark and then walking away the whole time giggling as if they knew some secret that Lex didn’t know.

“Was there cause for that?” Clark said having known what Lex had said perfectly fine, it was then that Lex looked at Clark stunned. He had figured that Clark was using the excuse of being the Arabic translator to get out of work, but maybe just maybe he really was the translator and now he had quit.

“I’m your customer now” Lex said not showing his worry over Clark quitting and leaving the Arabic translation of _Julian_ to die, he had promised some people in high places that the first release would be in the coming weeks, without Clark there that could cause serious problems.

“So you are” Clark said not at all happy with having to help Mr. Luthor on his day off.

“What do you want?”

“Is that any way to treat a customer?”

“It is when it is you” Clark threw back, while the whole time people watched the pair. No one had ever seen Lex Luthor being treated like a regular old citizen of Metropolis, and being treated rudely on top of it all.

“Now Cody…”

“And there we have it folks, a man that doesn’t even bother to remember the name of his ex-assistant” Clark called out to the crowd, it seemed that they had created such a stir when Lex had arrived to the booth and since they had been shown on the news the night before many had come down to really see if what the news had said was correct. It seemed most were in luck, because now they got a floor show with Lex Luthor as a participant.

“My name is Clark….C.L.A.R.K….not Cody or Cassidy or Oscar or Jorge or any other name you have called me. My name is Clark, as in the candy bar. How is it that Kitty, your assistant that hates me can remember my name, but you can’t?” Clark asked truly on a roll with this. Both Martha and Chloe watched with amusement in their eyes. So Lex Luthor had found his match in Clark, of all people. It wasn’t really a surprise since Clark was an amazing man inside and out but hell if Lex Luthor had to decide he wanted Clark. Jonathan on the other hand watched on proud of his son ‘sticking it to a Luthor’ something that Jonathan had always wanted to do. Lex stood there stunned, when he had heard Clark telling Chloe where he would be on Saturday he figured he would see the pair cozy and together while walking the stalls, but instead he saw the man standing by a booth pushing fresh fruits and vegetables to the people that walked by.

“I don’t bother to call you Mr. Kent, or Mr. Leo or Mr. Lang or Longbottom now do I?” Clark asked wanting to know the reason on why the man continued to call him any and everything except his name.

“You have to understand…” Lex started out before he noticed that it looked as if Clark wouldn’t be buying whatever he was going to tell him.

“If you can remember that trash assistant’s name, you can remember mine. After all I was the one doing all the work” Clark pointed out to the man, wanting him to understand that he wouldn’t be backing down on this.

“I’m a busy man” Lex said before realizing that he shouldn’t have said that at all for if he was a busy man, that just made him sound as if his assistant wasn’t as busy as he was and he was trying to get his assistant back not make him angrier.

“And I’m a busy man as well, so why don’t we both be busy away from each other. Have a nice life” Clark said before looking over to where a little old lady was standing not paying any sort of attention to the scene and was hitting on his dad. His dad looked totally and completely lost on what to do.

“Hello” Clark said making sure that Mr. Luthor knew that he was done talking to him and that if he had anything to say he had better be saying it to someone else besides him. Lex stood stunned, that…that *boy* had just given him his just desserts right in front of a good part of the Metropolis population. Oddly enough this just made Lex like Clark even more, it seemed that the man wasn’t afraid of making a scene out in public about things, he had plenty of women that always wanted to play the ‘marriage card’ while they were out and it always irked him, but this man no this man was willing to look like a fool over something he believed in. He would be perfect if only he could get the other man to like him, which seemed to not even be a possibility as of now.

“I’m not done with you” Lex said before Martha made her way over to the bald man with Chloe by her side, both smiling. Oh this would be the most interesting courtship that would hit the world.

“Mr. Luthor” Martha said a stern look on her face, so this was the man that had made her baby have a nervous breakdown last night?

“Mrs…..” Lex couldn’t seem to recall what Clark’s last name was.

“I see, it’s Kent” Martha supplied for the man just a bit disappointed that he wasn’t playing on not knowing Clark’s name.

“Ah, yes. Mrs. Kent” Lex said before eyeing Chloe, he would have to have a chat with her come Monday morning. He didn’t like her at all hanging around *his* assistant the way she was.

“Mr. Luthor” Chloe greeted the man waiting to see what Clark’s mother had to say to the man that had made Clark quit.

“My son isn’t asking for much, he never does but it is the least you can do is call him by his right name. I’ve heard some of what he has been doing for you, and I know that it hasn’t been easy for him, but for you to demean him in that way I will not stand for”

“You have to understand”

“I don’t have to understand anything, I’m not your employee and further more I’m not your assistant that was actually getting things done” Martha said she could tell that Lex Luthor was at a loss on having to deal with people such as the Kents. She knew that the man was crushing on her son but she also wouldn’t allow the man to treat her son as if he was a second class citizen. Lex looked at Martha and realized what she was saying was true, at first he had been not calling Clark by his name because it got a reaction out of the man but later it was just second nature and he actually forgot what Clark’s name was. Now he had landed himself in hot water and no real way to fix things.

“Mr. Luthor, a word” Chloe said knowing that she had to help her employer out on this one. She would just have to coach him through some things before trying to even ask Clark on a date. They were far, far, far away from that sort of thing between the pair, but she knew if she told Mr. Luthor what to do she would have her Arabic translator back and Mr. Luthor would have a capable assistant.

“Ms. Sullivan” Lex said before stepping a bit away from where Martha stood now helping some people that had come to the stall for some fruit.

“Mr. Luthor, let me be frank here” Chloe started out, she only hoped she had a job after what she was about to tell the man.

“You need to do a few things if you even think Clark is going to come back to LexCorp and _Julian_ ”

“Ms. Sullivan”

“For once in your life listen to what another person has to say, you don’t have all the answers” Chloe grouched out, it seemed that Lex wasn’t going to let someone else help him. Lex glared at Chloe but said nothing, letting her continue on with her words.

“Clark is the best thing _Julian_ and LexCorp has in the way of translation, he can not only translate Arabic, and he is fluent in at least three to four different languages if not more. It’s probably why he had no trouble working with Saki Maramoto, who you know speaks about as much English as Kitty speaks Japanese. And you’re throwing that away because you feel that knowing your assistant’s name is beneath you?” Chloe said she knew that there was another reason on why Lex did what he did, but she was going to have to explain to him that Clark would only take so much before leaving, just as he did.

“But”

“No, you know Kitty’s name even if she was given to you for some stupid reason. You should at least know Clark’s after all he’s done more for you and _Julian_ than Kitty Kowalski did in stay at _Julian._ ”

“So what do I do?” Lex said finally realizing that Chloe was probably the only one in the company that would help him out of this.

“You make some changes”

“What sort of changes”

“You get rid of Kitty if you can, or at least move her to a spot where she can’t do any more damage than she already has. You give Clark a real desk, even better you give him an office so that he can do what he needs to and not be bothered by Kitty. I would say you hire yourself a new junior assistant with Clark helping you”

“That’s a lot”

“I’m not done, he’s to translate _Julian_ so give him time to do that, I had heard some rumors that you are allowing Clark to do the Wedding Edition of _Julian_ , if you are then leave him be. That’s the best thing you can do”

“He needs to understand”

“He understands, he didn’t have to answer your phone call the first time and he didn’t have to go looking thru the penderie to find the black dress you spoke about. He’s not into fashion and he certainly doesn’t know women’s fashions, he can barely dress himself” Chloe joked before looking over to where Clark stood with his mother next to him, dressed in a flannel shirt with a pair of worn jeans and a hat on his head to keep him warm.

“True” Lex conceded before asking Chloe what else he needed to do.

“You need to pay him more, he does the work of three people and he needs to be paid for that”

“Of course more money” Lex snarked back to Chloe, half way knowing that things would go back to money.

“If you want to keep him, money talks” Lex heard Chloe’s words and took another look at Clark and decided that the man was very much worth it; in every way possible.

“How much”

“That you have to ask Clark” Chloe said, she couldn’t put a price tag on how much Clark may come back for, only Clark knew that number. Lex sighed before nodding his head and making his way back over to where Clark stood finally getting a breather from all the customers that they had before.

“Clark” Lex said with emphasis, which got Clark’s attention.

“Mr. Luthor” Clark addressed the man formally; after all he had called Clark by his name it was the least he could do.

“May I speak to you in private” Clark looked at the man and began to wonder what his game was.

“Sure. Mom, dad I’ll be right back” Clark said before walking away from the stall a bit and down towards where a seller was selling fresh cut flowers.

“I want to first apologize for the actions I have done against you” Lex started out, he was going to eat a major slice of humble pie on this and it had better be worth it.

“It was wrong of me to continue calling you not by your name because it was easier for me. I’m sorry” Lex said before waiting for Clark’s response. Clark on the other hand stood there stunned he had never thought the man would apologize for his actions, Clark knew that Chloe must have said something to him about it.

“I would also like to apologize about the actions that my worthless assistant has made against you. You have been the first capable assistant I have had and I allowed Kitty to treat you as she had. I will rectify that immediately” Lex said taking a deep breath before speaking his next words.

“And last I want to ask you if you would consider coming back to LexCorp and _Julian_ , you are very much needed and very much *wanted* there.” Lex fessed up; he could only hope that his words would change Clark’s mind on quitting. Clark gave Lex a look as if asking if he was crazy, the man wanted him to come back?

“Are you serious” Clark asked wanting to know if the man was playing with him or not.

“Yes, I’m willing to do just anything to get you back to the company and the magazine” Clark looked at the man and decided he was serious, so he thought of what demands he wanted and then listed them off.

“I’ll come back but there are some things that are going to have to change” Clark stated slowly as if expecting Lex to tell him no at any moment.

“And they are” Lex said hoping he wouldn’t have to degrade himself too much.

“I want Kitty out of there; I’m not going to deal with her. I don’t care where she goes but I refuse to work with her at all.” Clark started out waiting for Lex to knock it down. Lex instead just nodded his head in agreement, he could very much agree on getting rid of Kitty.

“And I want a bigger desk”

“I can arrange that” Lex agreed to that demand he had every intention of doing what Chloe told him to do, and give Clark an office.

“And if I’m going to be your assistant and the Arabic translator I want a pay increase” Clark was certain this was going to the sticking point with Mr. Luthor.

“Understandable” Lex agreed before Clark looked at the man and wondered what his deal was.

“Is that it?” Lex asked figuring that Clark had many more demands then just that.

“No, that’s it.” Lex was stunned, the man obviously didn’t understand what sort of power he had over him, did he?

“Oh, one more thing” Clark said before looking over to where his mom and dad were talking with Chloe about something, with the blonde munching on her strawberries as if they were candy.

“I want every other Friday off” this had Lex looking at Clark, why in the world would the man want every other Friday off? Lex followed Clark’s sight line and saw that he was looking at the Kent parent’s along with Chloe.

“Ms. Sullivan will not be included in this” Lex said his voice telling Clark how he felt about his words.

“I wouldn’t expect her to be” Clark said confused on what had Lex in a funk and so quickly.

“Then can I ask the reason for the request”

“My parents want to come from the farm every other weekend to sell here and I would like to help them out” Clark explained not really sure why it was Mr. Luthor’s concern over what he did on his days off. Even asking for every Friday off wasn’t really even that much since he had been putting in 12 to 13 hour days which more than made up for the one 8 hour work day once twice a week. With those words Lex seemed to calm down, so Clark and Chloe weren’t an item, at least yet.

“I will allow that” Lex said as if he was doing Clark a huge favor by allowing him to have every other Friday off.

“That’s it then” Clark said not able to think of anything else that he would want or need for his job if he went back.

“Then I will see you on Monday and we can iron out the details then” Lex said before answering his ringing phone. Clark just watched the man as he walked away talking about something that dealt with LexCorp.

“Honey, how’d it go?” Martha asked wondering if Clark would be returning to the LexCorp Building and back to _Julian_.

“I guess I’m staying” Clark said as he shuffled over to where his parents stood, he was certain they were going to yell at him about sticking to his guns on this one.

“If you think you want to” Martha said elbowing Jonathan to keep quiet on this one. It was then that Chloe looked at her watch and saw what time it was. She had figured that she would spend a half hour tops with Clark and his family, but then Mr. Luthor arrived and time just seemed to slip by.

“I hate to leave but I have a ten-thirty appointment I need to be at” Chloe said before shaking Jonathan’s and Martha’s hands and give a grin and a wave to Clark.

“She’s a special one” Jonathan commented amazed that Chloe was still working at LexCorp and _Julian_ , since she was a no nonsense kind of woman.

“She is” Clark agreed before he noticed that most of the produce that his parents had bought was gone.

“I think we can call this a success don’t you think?”

“I think so, which means we need to start calculating more room for the produce in the greenhouses during the winter months” Jonathan said already in his own little world of farming. Once Martha saw that Jonathan was in Farmville she asked her son the question that had been on her mind since Lex Luthor had shown up at their stall.

“So what did it take to get you back?”

“Ummm” Clark said not really sure what to tell his mother, he of course wouldn’t lie to her but he also knew that if she thought he was doing too much she would be a mother dragon protecting her young.

“Tell me” Martha said picking up the fruit off the stand moving them closer together so people could see what they had.

“I want the stupid assistant gone, and I want time to work on my translations and I wanted a bigger desk and of course I wanted more money…but the last one; yeah well uh” Clark stuttered out, wondering if his mother thought he was a fool for asking for such a thing such as a day off every other week.

“And” Martha looked up expectantly, she had been surprised at some of the requests since Clark wasn’t one to rock the boat on certain things and someone’s job was one of them. The woman must have done some real damage for Clark to have her fired.

“And I asked off every other Friday to help you and dad” Clark said quickly hoping that his mother didn’t understand what he had said.

“Can you repeat that” Martha said surprise written on her face at the idea of her son asking for a day off to help them. He was taking a day off work to only do more work somewhere else.

“Uh yeah, so I asked for every other Friday off”

“My stars Clark, you don’t have to do that for us. You need that day to rest, you already put in long hours and we don’t need you to come if you need to rest. You’re going to burn out and I won’t have that”

“But mom” Clark whined hoping that his whine would get his mother to do what he wanted.

“No sir, you can help occasionally but you don’t need to be with us every time”

“But the rush today”

“Is because they showed us on the news, you said so yourself” Martha pointed out to Clark, she knew her son well enough to know that he would do anything to stay out of his apartment and away from the phone. Laurent had yet to give up and she knew that if Clark wasn’t at his apartment then that meant that he didn’t have to feel bad for not answering the phone call, should it come in. Clark knew he wouldn’t win on this, but the idea of having Friday off without the need to help someone or work sounded quite wonderful to him.

“I can help occasionally right?”

“Yes” Martha said giving her son a smile, it was no wonder that Laurent hadn’t given up on winning Clark back, but she could see that Laurent had competition and tough competition at that.

“Okay, cool” Clark said smiling at his mother and father, who had managed to be sitting on the flatbed of the Kent Organic Farm’s truck which had been full then they arrived into town the night before.

“I think we need to get a new truck if you guys are going to making the trip at least twice a month” Clark said watching his father for a reaction, the man had always hated asking people for things. He had learned that early on in his life, but his father had mellowed out as his health wasn’t up to snuff and they had to hire people to help with the work. The farm was one of the largest in the town of Smallville and his parents had been eyeing the Potter property, but Nell had been slow to sell it with it being so close to the Kent property and dad. It was no secret in the town that Nell Potter wanted dad from the time they had been in high school, and even now almost thirty years later; some things never changed.

“I must agree and maybe even a trailer” Jonathan said loving the idea of having more customers, a few of the people that had stopped by had given him, their phone numbers willing to put in weekly orders to get the tasty fruits and vegetables that they always had in season. Clark and Martha shared a look before smiling and laughing at the eager look Jonathan had on his face.

“We’ll do that after we eat” Clark said looking at the time and seeing that it was nearing the lunch hour. By the time noon hit the Farmer’s Market the place was pretty empty, most of the people that were working the stalls were either shutting things down for the day or taking a much needed rest before they would start preparing for Sunday’s crowd that usually came.

“Do you think…” Jonathan started to say before Martha glared at her husband, she knew exactly what he was thinking and she was *not* going to Smallville to pick up more produce only to drive back and do this all again. They didn’t need the money that badly, Clark’s help made sure of that.

“Say the rest of those words and you will be sleeping on the couch”

“Right, okay, never mind” Jonathan said before watching some of the stall workers wondering how much they brought in on a weekend.

“Clark, honey” Martha called out when she noticed the unmistakable bald head of Lex Luthor making its way back towards their stall.

“Hmm” Clark said before seeing that his mother was looking at something in the crowd.

“Are you serious?” Clark said stunned that Mr. Luthor was making his way back to their stall; had he already changed his mind about meeting his demands?

“Mr. and Mrs. Kent, Clark” Lex greeted the group once he was close enough to speak; Clark looked stunned while Martha had a smile on her face and Jonathan just looked plain confused.

“Mr. Luthor” Martha said before chuckling at her son, the poor boy was never very good at hiding emotions and right now he looked plain confused and amazed, a look that had been on Clark’s face a lot during high school. She had, had to explain to her son more than once the reasons why so many of the students at Smallville High School gave him a hard time. Not only did her son have an amazing body, that most boys envied and girls drooled over but he had a heart of gold and was so completely clueless to his sex appeal that even to this day she didn’t know how her son made it out of high school still a virgin.

“Mrs. Kent”

“Call me Martha” Martha corrected Lex; she knew one day that man would be coming home with Clark a ring on his finger and her son happy as a hippo about their commitment to each other. She could see it even if Clark didn’t see it yet, Clark didn’t *have* to go back but he did and it wasn’t only because of the challenge that translating Arabic gave him and it certainly wasn’t for Chloe, her son was gay and not even the town’s princess had been able to change Clark’s way of thinking.

“Martha then” Lex said looking at Clark to make sure that he hadn’t overstepped any boundaries that Clark have had about addressing his parents.

“Is there something you wanted or needed?” Martha said noticing that Lex wasn’t paying any sort of attention to her; instead his eyes were on Clark and the reaction that he had gotten from calling Martha by her given name.

“Yes, I was wondering if you would like to have lunch with me?” Lex asked hoping that Clark would agree to this, where was just something about the man that stood in front of him that made him want to be near him and strive to be a better man.

“Certainly, I think we’re done for the day and weekend anyway” Martha said pointing to the limited items on the tail gate.

“So I see, coming back then” Lex asked as if he didn’t know that the Kent parents would be at the Metropolis Farmer’s Market in a few weeks.

“I think so, but we’re going to have to do some calculating, renting a stall can’t have been free” Martha said realizing that Chloe really had been a miracle on getting them a stall and for what seemed to be free.

“I don’t imagine it was” Lex said already deciding he was going to give the business that operated the farmer’s market a call to let them know that the Kent family would be renting a stall in the first shed, after all it seemed the people in the first shed got the most business, for the next six months. Their fee would be waved, if there was one, and they would be given first choice of where they wanted their stall located.

“Clark, honey can you do some research and see what we need to do?” Martha said noticing the gleam in Lex’s eyes at her request to her son; she knew that Lex would be taking care of this personally. The man really was head over heels about her son.

“Back to my question, would you like to have lunch with me?” Lex asked again hoping that the Kents wouldn’t turn him down. He had gotten off the phone with his father about some LexCorp business that his father thought that he was stupid for doing and he wanted to just sit down with some nice people and have a relaxing lunch that didn’t involve his father or work.

“We would love to” Martha said before cutting her look over to Clark to tell him, he had better not even think of refusing the man standing in front of them.

“Excellent, I hear that the latest shed addition has some nice restaurants there now” Lex said trying to carry a normal conversation with Clark and his parents.

“Yes, I heard about the opening just a few months ago” Martha said trying to keep the flow of conversation going. Clark and Jonathan worked on getting the few items they had left in the back of the truck and ready to be driven back to the farm in Smallville. It was then that a group of farmers from other stalls came over to where Clark and Jonathan stood putting the few items in the back of the truck. There wasn’t much and it seemed that Martha was deep in conversation with Lex about something.

“Excuse me” a girl that looked no older than sixteen said blushing when both Clark and Jonathan turned around and gave her their attention.

“Hello” Jonathan said easily wondering what the girl and a few others that were behind her wanted.

“We were wondering if you wanted to have lunch with us” she asked blushing the whole time she spoke, a few women behind her cleared the their throats trying not to laugh while the men just chuckled at the hard time the girl was getting.

“Oh well” Jonathan said much more willing to have lunch with his type of people instead of with Lex Luthor, heir to LuthorCorp.

“Jonathan, Clark” Martha said coming back leaving Lex standing there alone while on his phone.

“They want to have lunch with us” Jonathan explained before Martha saw the group and decided that she would start playing cupid now, with making Clark and Lex spend time together.

“Great, Clark honey why don’t you go and have lunch with Lex” here Clark gave her a look, they were already that close?

“You mean alone with him?” For some reason the mere thought of having to sit through lunch with Mr. Luthor on a Saturday didn’t at all sound appealing. He had to deal with the man every other day of the week and now he had to have lunch with him on his day off.

“It won’t be that bad” Martha said before giving her son a grin and pushing him to where Lex still stood talking on his cell phone.

“Uh” Clark said once he reached where Lex stood, checking every few seconds to see if his parents would change their minds and come with them for lunch.

“Clark” Lex said after he got off the phone, it seemed that Kitty was trying to get into the penderie but her badge wasn’t approved for entry, so they had called Lex to make sure that the status of her badge hadn’t changed. It hadn’t and better yet she soon wouldn’t be an employee of LexCorp or _Julian_.

“Yeah so my parents are going to have lunch with a few of the farmers” Clark said turning halfway to show Lex where his parents stood laughing and joking around with the group that had made their way over to he and his father.

“I see” Lex said before looking at Clark as if asking what would they do next.

“You said something about a new addition to a shed?” Clark said by way of changing the subject, not wanting to think about how his parents had left him for the ‘big, bad wolf’ to eat lunch with him.

“Ah, yes” Lex said turning and then making his way over to the shed marked ‘ **Shed 2, Eclectic Food Delight Shed** ’ the pair walked in a tense silence between them while they looked at the numerous small cafes and bistros that the shed had along with small shops that sold specialty food items.

“How about there?” Clark said pointing to a small café that had a sign hanging the small eating area announcing that it was the Arkipelago, a small café that specialized in island cuisine.

“Sounds appealing” Lex said before the pair took a seat in one of the small table and chairs that lay inside a tent covered area.

 


	12. Lunch Date? and Fan Girls

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mr. Luthor and Clark go out to lunch and meet a few fan girls along the way

“Welcome to the Arkipelago” a waitress said before she noticed who was having lunch at the café today. Clark smiled at the woman before taking the menu from her lack hands and reading it trying to avoid the drooling the woman was doing over Mr. Luthor, after all he had been declared the ‘Sexiest Man Alive’ for three years running now. When it became apparent that the waitress wouldn’t be handing over the menu to Lex, Clark grabbed the other one and placed it in front of the other man, he had years of this sort of experience; Laurent got the same looks when they went out so he was used to being the ‘ugly duckling’ of the table. Lex had an amused look on his face as Clark passed the menu over and went back to reading it as if it was the most interesting thing in the world.

“Can I get you something to drink” the waitress finally broke out of the stare she had been in.

“Water” Clark said not even looking up from his menu knowing that doing so would only leave him wanting to roll his eyes and he had already done that when the woman arrived to the table.

“Water as well” Lex said not seeing anything on the menu that he would like to drink, he wasn’t a big fan of soda and he absolutely detested cheap liquor so the only thing left was water. The woman left and came back quickly with two waters, both still in their bottles and a glass filled with ice next to it.

“Are you ready to order?” The waitress asked eager to serve Lex, not really even noticing Clark.

“I’ll have the jerk chicken sandwich” Clark said before looking up and seeing that the woman hadn’t written anything down. Clark sighed it was going to be one of *those* lunches it seemed.

“Jerk chicken sandwich” Clark said louder which broke the woman out of the staring she was doing at Lex, who had yet to look up from his menu.

“Oh yeah, okay” the woman said writing the order down and then continuing to stare at Lex.

“I think I’ll have the jerk chicken sandwich as well” Lex said looking up and seeing that the woman wasn’t paying much attention to what he was saying.

“Two jerk chicken sandwiches” Clark said waking the woman out of her stupor for her to nod her head and then grab the menus, walking away quickly. She had to call her friends to tell them who she was severing before they left.

“Get that often” Lex joked with Clark only to have Clark give him a serious look and speak.

“Yeah, Laurent was always being….” Here Clark stopped his words, he didn’t have to explain anything to the man sitting opposite from him, and he certainly didn’t have to explain anything about his relationship with Laurent. He was the reason on why they broke up in the first place, okay so many not the first reason but it had shown Clark that Laurent would never change.

“Laurent St. Ives” Lex said guessing who Clark was talking about; he remembered seeing the model at the Aureole with Clark.

“Yeah” Clark said uncomfortable with the way the conversation was going.

“And how is he doing?” Lex asked wondering if Clark and Laurent were still together, Laurent had been a pretty gem on his arm that night but that was about all he was. He wouldn’t speak and he didn’t seem to be all the way there after Clark had left the restaurant.

“I couldn’t tell you” Clark sort of lied, he knew where Laurent was and he knew exactly how Laurent was doing. The man continued to call on a daily basis as if they were still together, giving Clark updates on what he was doing and how he would be glad to be back in Metropolis so he could relax and talk to Clark about their relationship.

“What do you mean?” Lex asked confused, he had been certain that the pair was at the restaurant because someone wanted to make their relationship a bit more serious. It was *the* place to get engaged in Metropolis, and Lex could tell that Laurent was serious about Clark even if he had been eyeing Lex, himself while there.

“Don’t worry about it, I don’t know and I don’t care” Clark said before picking up his silverware and playing with it while not making eye contact with Lex. He knew things would go south quickly between the pair, they always did and now here he had to eat with the man and he was talking about Laurent of all things.

“Here you go” the waitress said appearing out of nowhere and throwing Clark’s meal down on the table, while she delicately placed Lex’s on the table. Clark shook his head, typical. Lex eyed the woman unhappy with the way she was treating Clark but he could see that Clark didn’t find his out of the norm for him. Clark took a look at his sandwich and decided it smelled and looked wonderful and so he picked it up and took a huge bite out of the sandwich, never noticing that Lex was watching him the whole time.

“Any good” Lex asked after he was certain that Clark had chewed and swallowed his bite of the sandwich down.

“Really good” Clark agreed before picking up a freshly made potato chip and dipping it in a ramekin of some sort of sauce. Once the food was Okayed by Clark, Lex took a bite and he had to agree; with was probably some of the best jerk chicken he had, had inside the US borders.

“Is everything alright” the woman asked after she had seen Lex take a bite to eat.

“Fine” Lex said before taking another bite and noticing that there seemed to be a bit of a rush now to the café.

“Seems she’s called some people” Clark said noticing that the café was filling up with woman about the same age as their waitress.

“So it seems” Lex agreed taking a chip and dipping it in the sauce just as Clark had.

“Oh. My. Gosh” Clark and Lex both heard before they began paying no mind to the women that now filled the café’s tables and chairs, this of course made others in the shed wonder what was going on which brought more people over.

“You can create a crowd” Clark said taking a final bite of his sandwich looking at the large group of people that had arrived while they ate.

“That I can” Lex agreed taking a sip of water and wondering when they could escape the giggling masses of women that now surrounded them.

“Would you like dessert” the waitress asked as she took the plates away, focusing only on Lex.

“No, I think we will pass” Lex answered not wanting to spend another moment at the café while it was filled with all these women. He could see that it was making Clark uncomfortable and so he wanted to remedy that as soon as possible.

“I’ll bring the bill then” she said before walking off towards where a computer stood waiting for her to put in the order.

“Lunch on Monday says there’s a phone number on the bill” Clark said knowing this type of scene to happen, Laurent had gotten it many times and so he figured that Mr. Luthor was no different.

“How about if I win I choose the place and if you win, you choose the place” Lex said knowing that Clark hadn’t paid much attention to his words.

“Deal” Clark said watching as the waitress came back a black bill fold in her hand that held the receipt.

“Here you are” she said placing the bill fold down and leaning over just a bit. It seemed she had undone a few more buttons on her white button up than had been undone before.

“Hmmm” Lex said taking the bill fold and looking over the total.

“Here” Clark said pulling out his wallet and getting a twenty out to help pay for his meal.

“No, no” Lex said shooing the girl away; he wasn’t going to have a conversation about who would pay while she was standing there.

“I can pay for my lunch Mr. Luthor” Clark said knowing that Mr. Luthor probably paid for other people’s lunches all the time and he wasn’t one to do that sort of thing.

“It’s fine”

“No, here” Clark said handing over the twenty and not picking it up when Mr. Luthor tried to give it back to him.

“Fine” Lex huffed out before looking at the bottom of the receipt and seeing the waitress’s phone number along with a note about giving her a call if he wanted to party.

“And besides you win” Lex said showing Clark the receipt while the waitress was busy talking to one of the tables to no doubt held her friends.

“Told you” Clark said leaning back in his chair, arms crossed over his chest. Making him look all sorts of yummy, in the words of Chloe.

“So you did” Lex said knowing that there would be a phone number at the bottom of the receipt. He went out enough to know it would be there the only person who seemed to treat him like a real person was Clark and his family, even this father treated him as he would an heir, not a son but an heir.

“I think we’ll just leave the rest as a tip” Lex said already seeing that some of the women were waiting for him to be alone before they would swoop in and start their flirting.

“Yeah, with you on that one” Clark said standing up and leaving with Lex right by his side. None of the women looked happy as they left looking like they were talking about something important, which was the best way to exit the shed without the huge group following them. They exited with little trouble, Clark had spotted a small exit door near the restrooms and they had made their escape that way.

“Clark” Martha said greeting her son once she saw him make his way back with Lex besides him, looking dare she say it but happy.

“Hey mom” Clark greeted to his mother, his father telling one of his corny jokes to the farmers as they picked up the lunch they had.

“How was lunch?”

“Good” Clark said leaving out the whole fan girl issue, knowing that neither of them was willing to talk about it.

“Excuse me” Lex said as his phone trilled, he was wondering why the security people at _Julian_ were calling back again.

“Where’d you go?” Martha asked trying to gage how the lunch really went. She could tell that her son was tense but she didn’t get the feeling it was because of the lunch he had with his boss.

“A Laurent scene occurred” Clark said once he was certain that Mr. Luthor was far enough away that he wouldn’t hear his words.

“Oh” Martha said understanding what Clark wasn’t saying, she had only been out once with Laurent and Clark and it had ended up with Laurent busy taking photos while she and her son stood on the sidelines watching as Laurent smiled and laughed acting as if he was alone at dinner.

“I’m needed back at LexCorp” Lex cut it watching the mother and son and wondering what they were talking about.

“I’ll see you on Monday then” Clark said before watching Lex leave, wanting to know what were the man’s plans for the rest of the day; an odd thought to be sure.

“How’d it go Clark?” Jonathan asked once the bald Luthor was out of sight.

“Fine, had a bit of a run in with fan girls” Clark explained, his father hadn’t been on the outing with Laurent so he only knew facts about it and Clark had used the same words for their outing with Laurent that he had just with Lex.

“Any trouble”

“None, we left before they could get a hold of Mr. Luthor” Clark explained, oddly happy that the man was trying to avoid the women as much as Clark was trying to.

“Good to hear then” Jonathan said before looking to his wife for some sort of direction. For the rest of the afternoon the Kent family went car dealer to car dealer trying to find the perfect truck for them. Jonathan had started to balk at the idea of getting a new truck but when he saw all the neat features he could get he was more than willing to go with a new truck.

“What color” Clark asked his mom, knowing that the truck they were looking at now was the one they would end up getting. It was fire engine red and looked like it could carry one of the huge bales of hay that they harvested in the fall.

“You know what color” Martha said to her son, smiling at the look of pure glee that was written on her husband’s face.

“So I do, so I do” Clark agreed before the salesman came over wanting to talk business, Jonathan had told him that he needed to speak to his son.

“Clark?” The sales man said looking at Clark and being amazed that a son would buy his father a truck, an F-350 Lariat in Vermillion Red.

“That’d be me” Clark said before his mother wandered over to where her husband was sitting in the truck oohing and awing at the features that the truck had.

“So what do you think dad?” Clark asked as he had finished speaking with the sales man, he wouldn’t be buying anything that his father didn’t like or want.

“This is the greatest thing, it has heated seats. Heated seats!” Jonathan said before he started expounding on the many features that he couldn’t see living without.

“Alright then” Clark said backing away, he would leave his mother to listen to his dad talk about the many features the truck had.

“I guess I’ll take it” Clark told the sales man, going inside the building and working out a deal that worked for both Clark and for the car dealership. Clark soon enough had all the paperwork taken care of and his father had been pulled out of the truck so that they could get it ready to hit the road.

“My truck” Jonathan called out laughing at the look he got from some of the people milling around the dealership.

“You act as if you won’t see it again” Martha said a grin on her face; she hadn’t seen Jonathan this carefree in a while. With Clark in Metropolis, Jonathan spent a good portion of his time out helping the workers on the farm and being worried over crops growing and not having a bad harvest. Jonathan laughed at her words before taking a seat in one of the chairs in the dealer showroom.

“Kent” about a half an hour later was called over the speakers throughout the dealership, inside and out.

“Well come on” Clark said dragging his father away from the TV; it seemed that a game of some sort was on and Jonathan had gotten really deep into the game.

“You can watch it when you get home” Martha promised to Jonathan, as if that would get up him and moving.

“It won’t be on but the next game will be” Jonathan said happy that he would be able to catch the next game that was coming on for the day. Soon enough Clark was sitting in the backseat of the new truck while his father sat in the driver’s seat a huge grin on his face.

“I swear, just drop me off at my apartment” Clark joked from the backseat as his father pulled out into traffic. The ride back to Clark’s apartment was quick, it seemed his father wanted to be back on the road to Smallville as soon as possible.

“Love you, and I’ll call you once I find something out about the stall” Clark promised knowing that come Monday morning he would be asking Chloe about how she got the stall and how much she had to pay for it. He was certain that the woman had paid for it, for some reason he was certain that Chloe had footed the bill to get her desired strawberries, he would have been more than happy to hand some over but he knew she wouldn’t take them without a good reason to.

“We’ll call once we get home” Martha said before waving goodbye as Jonathan took off in the new truck laughing as the wheels squealed.

“Like a small child” Clark said before shaking his head and making his way into the apartment building.

 


	13. Pressy Kitties and Super Model Talk

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Where a certain Kat gets her claws out and a Super Model is spoken to after a long time

Clark saw the flashing light on his answering machine and just knew that it was Laurent calling, yet again. Clark pressed the button and moved around the apartment expecting to hear Laurent’s voice coming through the speaker on the machine. He was there for surprised when the voice of Kitty came through the speaker.

“Where the hell are *you*? Loser come to the office when you get this” Kitty said before hanging up, leaving Clark stunned. What did that evil bint want now?

“Yeah right” Clark said, it was his day off and he certainly didn’t have to listen to the likes of Kitty today.

“Clark” Laurent spoke out since he was the next message that had been left.

“As usual” Clark said shaking his head while picking up some papers off the counter near the front door.

“I’m back in town for two weeks, can we please meet?” Clark stopped and thought about it, Laurent had been calling nonstop for the past almost month now. If that didn’t speak that he was at least semi-serious about their relationship he wasn’t really sure what else would.

“I’ll allow at least that” Clark said sort of missing Laurent and his odd choices in fashion when they were alone and at home.

“Call me, please” Laurent said which had Clark picking up the phone and dialing Laurent’s cell phone number. The man after all carried it everywhere he went, even to the bathroom.

“Clark?” Laurent picked up on the first ring.

“Hi” Clark said hesitant to speak, not sure what to say to the other man.

“Will you meet me, can we meet?” Laurent asked eager to spend some time with Clark once he arrived back to the states.

“Yes” Clark said slowly wondering if this was a bad idea already.

“Good, great! I mean…” Laurent said tripping over his words, Clark had seen him this excited a number of times and it showed just how normal Laurent really was when not posing in front of a camera or out with the paparazzi following his every move, he was after all one of the hottest male models in the world. Everyone wanted Laurent St. Ives to model their clothing or pose for their line or something to sell.

“I’ll be back in Metropolis in three days” Laurent said before asking Clark how he was doing.

“I’m fine, I actually have a new job”

“I know! Congratulations” Laurent said excited to be talking to his hopefully soon to be boyfriend again and maybe just maybe life partner.

“So where do you work now?” Clark knew he was going into choppy waters with where he was working, for some reason he felt the urge not to tell Laurent.

“Clark still with me?”

“Yeah, yeah….sorry. I work for _Julian_ magazine” Clark said before holding his breath, he didn’t have to wait long for Laurent to shout.

“You work where?! _Julian_ Magazine?! How’d you manage to land that?” And it was there that Clark realized why he wasn’t *in* love with Laurent. Sometimes his mouth worked faster than his brain and some of the meanest things could come out of his mouth, he usually meant no harm by the words but they still cut deep and hurt.

“I’m the Arabic translator” Clark said stiffly, he was quite ready to hang up on Laurent right now, what was it about the place that people were amazed that he worked there?

“Oh, right…of course” Laurent said as if Clark wouldn’t be able to get any other job at the magazine that related to fashion or the like.

“I’m so glad you got out of the hospital, that place was terrible….” Laurent went on not realizing that Clark had checked out of the conversation. Instead he was looking through a few old travel books he had on hand from when he had been in college and deciding on where he would spend his internship at.

“Clark, I’ve got to go” Laurent said sounding sad, not happy that he was being called away from his phone conversation with Clark.

“Oh, okay” Clark said before hanging up the phone after Laurent promised he would call again.

“As if I’m going to answer now” Clark said before tossing the phone down and flipping through the books more and more. Ideas forming in his head about some of the locations for the weddings he had planned out. He would really need to meet with Mr. Luthor on Monday on how they were going to proceed with the top 10 US locations to get married in and the top 10 locations abroad.

“I’m thinking the Botanic Gardens in Singapore” Clark said marking a page in his travel book that listed some basic information about the place should you choose to visit.

“In the mist house” Clark said putting dresses and models in certain photos that were shown in the book. He wasn’t really sure on what was there but he was certain they could find somewhere to have a photo op, it was the Singapore Botanical Gardens after all plenty of beautiful plants and lush landscape. It was then that the phone rang, had three hours already passed? That couldn’t be his parents calling to let him know they had made it back, already.

“Hello” Clark said not bothering to check the caller ID, which would be his down fall.

“Loser boy” Kitty’s voice came across the phone, she sounded hot.

“Kit…Ms. Kowalski” Clark asked stunned, had the woman really been serious about him showing up at the magazine building?

“Where the hell are you? I called *hours* ago and yet I still stand here waiting for you”

“Sorry, I had…” Clark stopped his words, he didn’t have to explain anything to Kitty and he certainly didn’t want to explain anything to her.

“I don’t care, just get your ass down here” Kitty demanded before hanging up the phone, something about the call wasn’t sitting right with Clark so he made a call he hoped wouldn’t bite him in the butt.

“I so hope this works” Clark said pulling out his cell phone and searching through the calls to find the number of Mr. Luthor’s cell phone. He didn’t want to call but he knew he had better, Kitty was doing something and he wanted no part in it if she went down for she would throw him under the bus to look good in the eyes of Mr. Luthor.

“Luthor” Lex barked into the phone not knowing the phone number that was calling him.

“Mr. Luthor, it’s Clark” Clark started out waiting for Mr. Luthor to cuss him out for even attempting to call him on the weekend. He may have just seen the man but that didn’t mean they were buddy-buddy.

“What can I do for you Clark?” Lex’s voice change to that of a warm and almost dare he say it but happy tone.

“Uh, Ms. Kowalski just called me and wants me to come down to the building”

“What for?” Lex asked, he had already spoken to the security guards and it seemed that Kitty was trying to get into the penderie to no doubt try out a few of the newly arrived party dresses for the event that would be happening tonight. Lex had been invited of course but he had decided to stay home and try and figure out the man that he called his junior assistant.

“She didn’t say, just told me to show up” Clark said hoping that Mr. Luthor would tell him to not go.

“Don’t go, I’ll see what she is up to” Lex said before hanging up the phone as he normally did.

“Gotta get used to that” Clark said before looking around his apartment and deciding that he had best start on some wash so he would have some clean clothes come Monday. While washing Clark looked through his travel guides as well as at the internet, he created a notebook filled with notes, questions and other ideas for each location for the weddings for the magazine’s special edition.

 


End file.
